Titans Together
by Shadowman-DDT
Summary: The Bat, The Star, The Machine, The Cloak, The Spirit, The Lighting Bolt, The Warrior. A great evil is coming and a new team of Titans is needed.
1. The Bat

Here's a new story I've been kicking around in my head for a few months. I wasn't sure if I was going to do anything with it, but here it is. I wanted to retell the New Teen Titans story with different origins and Titans on the team. This is mostly for shits and giggles, each of the first eight chapters will be introductions of the new Titans, then the team coming together, and facing the big threat. I'll also be giving a brief explanation on why I changed what I changed and why I included this character at the end of each chapter.

And for anyone curious about my other major story, Urban Legend...Unfortunately I'll be taking an indefinite hiatus from that story. I haven't been inspired to continue that story for a while, and I might just drop it all together.

Anyway, enjoy the first chapter of this new story.

* * *

The Bat

It was six AM. She was sure of it. She didn't have a clock, but she knew it was six AM. Because she always got up at six AM. It was a subconscious thing at this point; she did it without thinking or planning it. The compulsion to wake up at six, no earlier, no later was drilled into her for as long as she could remember.

She stretched and yawned. It was warm out, she was happy. She couldn't get to any of her more insulated places before nightfall. The place is a bombed out building with lots of small houses inside. She picked out one a few floors up and made it her own. She cleaned out the room of all the charred objects, dust and soot; made a bed out of discarded cushions and blankets she found and it was hospitable enough. Unfortunately, it didn't have windows or a door. That made using it when it's cold problematic. She remembered the last time she slept here, it snowed. She was surprised she didn't get sick.

The building didn't have running water, of course. She had to find water the night before so she could take a bath in the morning. If there was one good thing her teacher taught her, it was the importance of keeping clean. Hell, it was the only good thing he taught her.

After bathing, she took a second to look at herself in the slightly cracked mirror. She had grown considerably in the years she's been in the city. She isn't exactly tall, there were plenty of people much taller, but she had grown. She ran her fingers through her long black hair. It came down to the small of her back. She should probably cut it some time.

She look at the rest of her body, it was still covered in scars, though most of them have faded with time. Despite the years since her training, she still had a good deal of muscle. She sometimes wondered if she was considered attractive. She would often notice men leering at her so one could make the assumption. But she was never sure.

She got dressed and left her place to get something to eat. Today was one of the few days she actually had money so she didn't have to steal anything. A few years ago she figured out that the police would sometimes give small rewards to people who had information on finding criminals; it was more than an easy enough task for her. After bringing in the criminal to the police, beaten and half conscious, she realized they didn't actually want people to apprehend the criminals themselves, just give them an idea of where to find them. It seemed unbelievably ineffective to her, but if it gave her the ability to buy food, it was worth it.

She had just given printed out snapshots of a suspected bank robber's apartment (Ironically with a stolen camera), and had about $250 in her, figurative, wallet. With conservative spending, it could last her at least a week or two. But first thing's first: Breakfast.

She walked to a diner she liked to visit when she could afford it and sat that the counter. The waitress walked up to her, in her usual cheery nature and a strange accent, "Hey there honey! How you doin' today?" She smiled and nodding. "Still not talkin', huh?" She shrugged. The waitress smiled and handed her a menu before walking away. The waitress was a woman named Carla who was significantly older than her. She had a few wrinkles and a gray streak or two lining her messy bun, but wouldn't be considered elderly.

She liked Carla. She was kind and friendly, never bothered by the fact that she couldn't talk or read, and even showing her pictures of menus items that didn't have them in the menu so she knew what she was ordering. Pretty much the only thing she didn't like about Carla was that her accent was so thick she could understand her even less than other people.

She had sampled almost everything on the menu at some point, but found herself particularly fond of the Turkey burger; at least she thinks that what Carla called it. She ordered that and a side of fries to-go.

She left the diner and made her way to a park she liked to relax in. She sat down at a bench and laid out her food and began to people watch. She liked to see how people interact with each other. She didn't completely understand all of it, but she had managed to figure out how certain interactions worked. People who held hands or hugged were close, but people who kissed had a deeper relationship. The people who kissed would usually look at each other oddly before doing so. Though, it seemed this wasn't always the case, as many people who kissed each other did have that odd look. It was all very confusing without being able to talk with these people herself.

But it was difficult for her to do so. Not just because of her inability to speak. She had a hard time trusting people. Carla was a rare occurrence, she didn't have many people she would consider a friend. She was friendly with some of the other homeless people in the city, even telling them about some of her warmer places on exceptionally cold nights. Though she considered the place lost, and spent the next day finding another to replace it.

She'd spend a few hours in the park, either people watching or training to keep her skills sharp before leaving. She wandered around the city for a while, just enjoying her thought as she continued to map out the city in her head. She'd explored most of it in the years she's been here, but she'd always managed to find more of it the more she looked around.

It was past dark when she decided to head to one of her places. She took the backstreets and side road to get to the abandoned building. She didn't have to worry about being attack like most people here did. She could take care of herself, her teacher made sure of that. That didn't stop the idiots of the city from trying.

Three men, one of which wasn't much older than her, calmly walked into her line of sight. "Look who we have here boys." The oldest looking one said. He was the leader. Keep an eye on him.

"A little cutie in the big city." Another one said. Cutie. Cute. They thought she looked good. So she was attractive. She felt disgusted learning that from these clods.

The last one, the one close to her age, walked close and started circling her, "Man, I've always had a thing for Asian girls." A word she didn't know. Asian. She'd heard it a few times, but never figured out what it meant. She decided it wasn't a good thing if they associated it with her.

"Yeah." The oldest one chuckled. "She must be from outta town. Blüdhaven just don't make girls like this." Blüdhaven. The city's name. She always forgot that. It just didn't seem that important.

The three were looking at her like she was a piece of meat and they were hungry dogs. She wanted to fight them. She was trained to fight them. Or at least people like them. More than fight actually. But she would wait. They may just be all talk.

The youngest one roughly grabs her arm, "What do ya say we-YAH!" In one quick move she snaps his wrist. "The bitch broke my hand!"

The smart ones take the hint and leave her alone after something like that. The middle one grabs a metal stick lying on the ground and runs at her. They aren't that smart. She knocks the stick out of his hand and delivers an open palm strikes to his chest, knocking the wind out of him.

The oldest rushes her when he thinks she isn't looking, "You little skan-" She silences him with the stick. He's unconscious, but not dead. She made sure to hit him hard enough for that.

The others gather up there leader and drag him away. "Who the hell was that chick!? Nightwing's little sister!?"

More words she didn't understand, but she decided not to think about it. They really didn't deserve anymore thought. They weren't even a challenge. Her teacher would have killed them without a second thought. He would have expected her to as well. It wouldn't happen. She'd never let it. Not again.

She shook her head and walked out of the ally. Her place wasn't far from here. But before she could get too far, she heard a voice, "That was impressive." A woman this time. A non-threatening voice. She turns around and a woman with orange hair and glasses in a rolling chair comes closer to her. "Hi." She smiled gently at her. She stared at the woman. She was completely relaxed. That was the strangest thing about her. Everyone else she had encountered was always tense, especially at night. It was the nature of the city. It was overrun with criminals and murderers. The general populace was terrified. She had noticed in the last year or so, people don't seem as anxious. Though, again, not as relaxed as this woman. It was like she didn't fear the threats of the city.

"My name's Barbara." The woman held out her hand. She took a step away from her, unused to the gesture. But she remembered seeing other people doing this before and returned it by grabbing her hand. Barbara. She liked that name.

Barbara smiled again at her before taking back her hand, "So, what's your name?" Her name. She didn't have one. She shook her head. Barbara looked confused before asking, "Do you...have a name?" She shook her head again. "Can you talk?" Another shake.

Barbara leaned back in her chair with a serious look on her face. "But you understand me, right?" She was about to nod, but stopped herself. She couldn't in all honesty say she understood Barbara. She'd been able to follow her so far, but that's only because she was using small sentences and easy to understand words. If she started talking too much, or too fast, or using words she'd never heard before, she wouldn't be able to keep up. Not sure how to respond she just shrugged.

Barbara thought about this for a moment, "So, you can only understand me a little." She hesitated herself before nodding.

"Okay then...This is going to be tricky." Barbara tapped her chin, trying to figure out how to communicate with her. "Alright, so first off; I saw you fighting those guys back there." She told her while pointing at the ally she just came from.

She tilted her head in slight confusion. Barbara smirked slightly, "Alright that's adorable." She was sure she heard that word before. Adorable. It was another word for cute. She felt a lot better being called cute by Barbara than those morons from earlier.

But more importantly, she didn't notice Barbara during that fight. She was sure she'd be able to tell if someone was watching her, even during a fight. And that wasn't much of a fight to begin with. So her attention wouldn't have been that divided between her opponents and her surrounds. She squinted her eyes at the red head.

"Curious how I was watching you, huh?" Barbara asked with another smirk. She crossed her arms and continued glaring at the chair bound woman. "Yeah, this is going to be a great fit." She said under her breath. She pressed a button on her chair and a glowing image appeared before her.

She jumped back in surprised with her eyes wide. This was new. To say the least. She had never seen anything like this before.

Barbara giggled slightly, "Never seen a hologram before?" She shook her head, still staring at the...Holo...Gram? The red head gestured for her to come closer. She hesitantly came closer to the glowing image. When she was close enough, Barbara began using her hand to switch between different images, until she saw the ally. "I have cameras...uh, way to see, set up all over the city. I've actually been watching you for a couple weeks now."

Watching her. She reached out and mimicked Barbara's hand movements to switch between the images. She noticed most of them from around the city. But she also saw a few of her places. This woman had been spying on her for who knows how long. She swatted her hand at the image, but it passed right through. Surprised for a second, she quickly remembered her anger towards Barbara and started to walk away.

"Hey, wait." Barbara rolled to keep pace with her. "Look, I get you might be a little...Upset." She stopped and glared at the older woman indignantly. Barbara sighed, "Alright. You're pissed. And you have every right to be. I've been doing this for a while now, and I guess I sometimes forget that privacy is, y'know, a thing that people like."

Was that an apology? She understood most of it, but she still wasn't sure. "Okay, so here's the thing. I know you're homeless. I'm just curious how long you've been living on the streets. A year, maybe two?"

She hadn't really thought about that. I had been so long ago. But she still remembered it. Getting off the flying thing. A plane, she late learned it was called. It was after she realized she couldn't stay with her teacher anymore. So she snuck on to the first plane she could find. Her teacher had taken her on one before, so she knew it would take her far away. And that's what she wanted, to get as far away as possible. Coming to Blüdhaven was completely random.

But how many years had it been? She never kept track. Not like she could at first. Counting, thankfully, was easier to figure out than reading or speaking. She figured out while she was still with her teacher that the weather got warmer and then colder in a cycle. She assumed once the cycle repeated itself that constituted a year.

Counting the number of cycles that occurred since she came to the city on her fingers, "Seven Years!?" Barbara blurted out once she stopped counting. "You've been on the streets, by yourself, for seven years!?"

She wasn't too surprised by her reaction. She was sure that if she didn't have her training, she wouldn't have survived nearly this long.

"Wow...wow, okay. You're a survivor that much is certain." She still looked a little dazed from the information. But then she ran a hand through her hair with a smirk on her face, "This could work. This could actually work."

She tilted her head in the same confused way as before. "Okay, look. I know you might still be angry, but I think I can help you." She gave Barbara a wary glare. She still wasn't sure if she accepted her apology, or even if what she said to her could be considered an apology. But she could still see the trustworthy posture she'd had since she came to her.

"I have a friend at the Blüdhaven Police Department. And he's noticed you giving a lot of information to the department. Really good Information, too. And apparently you've been doing it for a while, now. We talked about it, and I had an idea; if you up for it."

Barbara looked at her expectedly. After a moment to consider, she nodded.

The older woman smiled gently, "Like I said, I've been watching you. Not only can you find people faster than most police officers, but your fighting skills would make Jackie Chan jealous. And you're what, fifteen?"

She blushed slightly. She had never been complimented so openly. The most her teacher gave her was a pat on the head, if that.

Come to think of it; I was only fifteen when I started." Barbara mutters to herself. She shook her head and turned back to her. "I also noticed that no matter how badly you beat down a criminal, you don't kill them, right?"

She nodded with a serious look on her face. "Well that's just what I need." She gave her another confused look before Barbara asked, "Have ever heard of Batman?"

She thought about it for a moment. She did remember overhearing a few people here and there talking about someone, or something called the Bat-Man. But she couldn't figure out exactly what it was. And for once not just because of her limited understanding of language. There were so many different idea of just what the Bat-man was, even if she spoke perfect English she probably still wouldn't know what this thing was.

But...had she heard of it? She nodded.

"Well..." Barbara began, "I'm pretty sure you've also heard a lot of different, probably really confusing stories about him." She nodded again with an amused smirk. "Most of them aren't true. And I should know. I kinda work for him." That was defiantly surprising. And the look she had did little to hide that fact.

Barbara chuckled softly, "Yeah, I work for him. And he needs help." She looked down at the ground for a second before continuing, "Batman had a partner; he was like a son. But, he died recently." Barbara took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes, the death of this person had greatly affected her apparently. She put her glasses back on, "Uh, sorry. He may have been an annoying little brat, but god did he try. Anyway, Batman hasn't exactly been taking it well. He blames himself, I'm sure of it."

Barbara took a deep breath, "He's been taking a lot more risks, acting more brutal than usual. Even though I wasn't sure that was possible. He needs someone to watch out for him. Someone who will hold him back from doing something he'll regret. And I think that someone is you."

She stood there, unsure of what to do. This random woman comes to her, says she's been spying on her, and then asks her to help some strange bat person. She should just walk away. This wasn't any of her business. So what if the Bat-man killed someone. One less criminal she'd have to deal with.

But then...This is what she'd been trained for. To stop criminals. It's what she'd been doing for years now. And this Bat-man did it without killing.

"You'd be using you skills to help people." Barbara said, bringing her out of her reserves. "That's what you want, right? It's why you've been helping out the police?"

She was part right. Part of it was to protect innocents from criminals. Another part was...Something else. Something that made her feel sick. It was the first time her teacher took her on the plane. It was to find a man, and kill him. Her teacher showed her what the purpose of her training was before. Like she did here, he would have her stop criminals as they committed crimes. She would stop them, and he would kill them. He did so without mercy. Without remorse or feeling. It was easy for him, so she assumed it would be easy for her.

But, when she found the man, and when she killed him, it was horrible. The way his body jerked and convulsed, the way he struggled to stay alive for just a few more second. Only to go limp and lifeless with that empty look in his eyes. It haunted her to this day. She knew she could never take another person's life. And she could never forgive herself for doing it even once.

That was the reason, the real reason, she did what she did. To make herself feel better.

"Hey." Barbara had come closer to her, and gently brushed a few tears out of her eyes. She didn't even notice she was crying. "It's okay. We all have personal stuff to work through. I say this is for Batman, but I think it'll be good for you too. You'd have a sturdy roof over your head. A hot meal every day. And someone to talk to. When you learn to talk of course."

Sincere, all of it. She could tell Barbara meant every word (The bits she could understand at least). She wanted to help her. And maybe she could.

She smiled, and nodded. Barbara's smile lit up the night when she realized what that meant. "So you'll do it? You come with me?" Again, she nodded. "Okay, great! Welcome abroad the Bat team." She said shaking her hand again.

Barbara gestured for her to follow as she rolled down the street. "I have a friend with a car just up ahead. We'll take you to Gotham to meet Batman. Fair warning though: He can be a bit...cranky."

She looked at her confused for a second, and then nodded. She started to regret agreeing to this. But then again, it couldn't be too much worse than sleeping in abandoned buildings. Right?

"Oh wait." Barbara stopped them as a man with black hair standing next to a sliver car came into view. She had never ridden in a car before. She took the bus once, but not a car. Wait, what was Barbara saying? "You don't have a name." She nodded confused. Didn't already know that? "Well, you need one. So I guess I could give you one. If that's okay."

She thought for a moment. She'd finally have a name, something to call herself. A little excitedly, she nodded her head.

"Okay, okay. Calm down. Let's see." Barbara looked her up and down. Trying to get a feel for her to come up with a good name for her. "How about...Cassandra?"

She rolled the name around in her head for a bit. Cassandra. Cassandra. My name is Cassandra. Hello, I'm Cassandra. She inserted the name into other greetings she'd heard and imagined herself saying them. And she liked it. She really liked it.

And Barbara could tell she how much from the smile slowly growing on her face. "So I guess we'll stick with Cassandra then?" She said.

She...Cassandra, nodded.

"Alright then Cassandra, let's go." They continued until getting to the man. "Dick, this is Cassandra. Cassandra, this is Dick Grayson."

Dick walked up to her and shook her hand, "Good to meet you Cassandra. I'm guessing she said yes then."

"That's right. Now let's get back to Gotham." Dick helped Barbara get into the front of the car and then put her chair into the storage part at the very back of the car. Cassandra didn't know cars had those.

Dick then opened one of the back doors for Cassandra and bowed to her, "Mademoiselle..."

She just looked at him strangely. She'd never heard that word before. Barbara yelled from the front, "Dick, she can barely understand English. Don't bring French into this as well."

Dick chuckled nervously and scratched to back of his head before gesturing for Cassandra to get in. She was about to climb in, but had the feeling she was being watched. She turned and looked up at a nearby building and saw what looked like a hooded figure staring at them. Was that the Batman?

"What is it, Cassandra?" She looked at Dick for a second and point at the building she saw the figure, but it was already gone. "I don't see anything."

Blinking, Cassandra shook her head and climbed into the car. Barbara turned around in her seat, "Hey is everything alright?" Cassandra gave her a reassuring look and nodded. Dick sat in the driver's seat, gave Barbara a concerned look, and drove off.

* * *

I knew I had to have a Bat on the team. At first it was just going to be Nightwing again, because you think Teen Titans, you think Dick Grayson. But I thought about it and realized that there has never been a Batgirl on the main Titans team. There was Betty Kane in the seventies, and Cass was on a Titans team, but In both cases it was Titans East. And let's be honest, no one gave a shit about Betty Kane until she became Flamebird.

In the comics, Cass became Batgirl during the No Man's Land story arc to help Batman keep Gotham from tearing itself apart. But here I basically had Cass take Tim Drake's place as the person to pull Bats out of his post Jason death funk. The decision to have her stay in Bludhaven at first was to give Dick and Barbara something to do. You can guess this is during Dick's on going series, and I love the idea of Dick realizing that Cass could be a Batman's new sidekick to help get him back on track. I always had the idea of Barbara talking Cass into becoming Batgirl, and I will be expanding on that relationship when we come back to Cass.

Next up: The Star


	2. The Star

So...This is longer than I originally planned. I guess it's because this chapter has a lot more dialog, but I also just loved writing these characters so I got a little carried away in some parts.

* * *

She'll never get used to traveling underground. It just didn't seem right, especially for her. She was used to flying in the sky. Soring through the clouds, far ABOVE the ground. She had been taking the subway for almost a year now, and she doubted she'll ever be comfortable with the cramped space and lack of fresh air. Or at least as fresh as the air in Gotham could get.

"Hey, Kori!" Turning to her right, the tall red head saw a young girl with choppy blue hair and several piercings walking up to her. "I forgot you take this train home."

"Hello, friend Harper." She then turns back to the window she was staring out of. Watching the underground lights rush by, she couldn't help take notice of her own reflection. At first it was odd looking at herself, with her caramel colored skin and the whites in her otherwise green eyes; the only thing she recognized was her curly red hair coming down to her knees. She had gotten used to it all by now though, even the uncharacteristic frown she now wore.

"Not big on subways, huh?" Harper asks.

"I do not like being underground."

Harper chuckled softly, "I get that I guess. It's like being buried." Kori nodded. "I personally never had a problem with it. Kinda like it actually."

Kori smiled and looked at Harper, "Then you are more brave than I, Harper Rowe." The train stopped, allowing people to get off and go about their business. Taking notice of the stop, Kori knows it's only two more until her own. "Would you like to come to my home, friend Harper? We could work on our homework together. I am still having some problems remembering all the dates in World History."

Harper thought about it for a moment, "Is your sister gonna be their?"

Kori rolled her eyes, "Not this again. Harper..."

"I'm sorry Kori but your sister's a bitch."

"Carmine is not as bad as everyone thinks. She's just...A bit abrasive."

Harper raised an eyebrow, "Are you forgetting that time I did come by your place. I asked Carmine for a soda and she threw the can at my head."

Kori couldn't help but cringe at both the memory and Harper's tone, "Well...To be fair Carmine is a waitress. I'm sure she didn't appreciate being told to fetch something while at home."

Harper scoffed and rolled her, "Fine. But you can't deny that she has this...I don't know...arrogance to her I guess. Like she thinks she's better than everyone else."

"Yes," Kori said with a frown, "I guess that is true." Harper was right about that much, her sister was arrogant. But then, they were princesses. And arrogance tended to go hand-in-hand with royalty. Not that Kori could tell Harper that.

A tap on her shoulder brought Kori out of her reserves. "Lost ya for a minute there Kori."

"Yes, sorry. I was just...Thinking..."

Harper eyed her curiously. "Well, your stop's coming up."

Kori looked out the window again and saw the train pulling into the station. She hurried to the doors and waited for them to open.

"Kori, hey I'm sorry about all that stuff I said about Carmine. It's just that-"

"It is alright Harper." Kori said with a smile. "She may be my sister, but even I can admit that Carmine can be difficult to deal with."

Harper smiled disbelievingly, "Okay, seriously, how can you be so nice with a sister like that? You have to be adopted. Hey, maybe you're Bruce Wayne's long lost cousin or something."

Kori just shook her head, with an amused smile. She followed the other commuters off the train as Harper yelled out, "Hey can I visit you at Wayne Manor sometime!?"

"I assure you Harper," Kori said as the train doors close, "I am not a Wayne!" Harper just waves her off as the train leaves the station. Kori smiles at her friend as she leaves, then looks down with a soft expression. "I cannot be a Wayne. I was not even born on this planet."

As Kori leaves the crowded subway station, she can't help but look up at the sky. The commute to and from school would be so much easier if she could fly. In fact she had flown her first week or two, but then she started hearing rumors about fireballs zooming through Gotham's sky line. She realized people would figure out the three places they kept heading and she and her sister would be discovered; so she stopped. Convincing Komand'r to stop was harder, but she did eventually agree.

It had been almost a year since Koriand'r and Komand'r of Tamaran had taken the identities of Kori and Carmine Anders; two orphaned sisters living in South-East Gotham. Not that they really wanted to.

Tamaranians are powerful warriors, explorers, and traders; always seeking new planets to colonize or trade with. Koriand'r had begged her parents to allow her on one such expedition. They finally agreed but on the condition that her older sister accompany her as well. Which she will never let her forget.

Things were going well enough, they hadn't found anything, but Kori was enjoying the opportunity to see the rest of the universe. That is until their ship was attacked by pirates. They fought as well as they could, but the pirates overwhelmed them. To save the heirs to the throne, the crew forced Komand'r and Koriand'r on to an escape pod before the ship was destroyed.

The pod was small and its engines were too weak to make it back to Tamaran. So the royal sisters had to fly towards the nearest inhabitable star system. Unfortunately, even this distance was too much for the escape ship. The engines gave out and they crash landed on the first planet they could make it to: Earth.

The ship crashed in the woods on the outskirts of the city. The site seemed secluded enough to leave the ship there, and to this day no one has discovered it.

The princesses hid their alien origins by using their ability to assimilate language through touch (Koriand'r insisted on doing so by kissing a bike messenger) and a Tamaranian device worn on their wrists that disguised their appearance. Koriand'r felt the darker complexion complimented her red curly hair. One thing the disguise couldn't hide was their height, as both were over six feet tall. But overall, while the device was active, the two Tamaranian princesses could pass as human.

Kori made it to her apartment in in a couple of minutes. They we lucky to find a place so close to a station. Especially since they didn't even know it was such an important feature of the neighborhood.

Finding an apartment itself was easier than one would expect. Affording rent was simple enough, they sold a few precious stones they had acquired during their journey to have a healthy supply of Earth currency. It was enough for them to live comfortably; not to the degree they were used to, but they were far from Gotham's slums at least.

Saying hello to a few of her neighbors on the way, Kori opened the door to hers and Komand'r's apartment. The first thing she saw was Komand'r lying on the couch watching T.V., already out of her Earth disguise. Komand'r had the distinct Tamaranian golden skin and green pupiless eyes. What made the princess unique was while most Tamaranians have curly red hair, like Koriand'r, Komand'r had straight jet black hair.

"Two women are wrestling topless in an inflatable pool. I don't remember why though. I think it has something to do with a man." She said in a flat tone.

Hesitantly, Koriand'r faced the T.V., and indeed there were two shirtless women fighting on screen in a small pool. There exposed breasts were pixelated to the point it was impossible to see them. It continued to confuse Kori how repressed humans were at times. Why would they prevent the viewer from seeing the beauty of these women's breasts? Sure the women themselves weren't what Kori would consider...conventionally attractive, but if they were fighting over a man, it's clear he was able to see their beauty.

Why they actually were shirtless and fighting in a pool of water was completely beyond her though. "Uh...That is...nice, Komand'r. I see you are home early from work again. Have your hours at the restaurant been reduced?" She asked, becoming concerned.

"Don't worry, sister dear." Komand'r said, falseness in the sweet tone of her voice Kori never seemed to detect, "We still have enough coming in to pay for this _glorious_ abode of ours." Even Koriand'r couldn't miss the mountain of sarcasm radiating off her sister's comment.

"Sister." While Koriand'r had grown to enjoy her time on Earth, Komand'r just seemed to get more and more restless. After getting their apartment, the sisters conserved a plan to sustain themselves, as the money they got from selling jewels would only pay their first few months' rent, and they had no idea how long they'd be on the planet. Komand'r would find a job, while Koriand'r would go to Earth school and learn more about the planet's civilization and culture.

After only a month on Earth, Komand'r insisted Koriand'r got the easier part of the deal.

"What, are you going to lecture me again? How you have it just as hard as I do? How we need to blend in as much as possible until we figure out how to get home? I'm starting to forget who the older sister here is."

Kori sighed as she took off her book bag and sat on the love seat next to the couch, "Fine, I won't say anything."

The sisters sat in silence as the humiliation of humanity played itself out on T.V. Kori turned off her disguise, reverting to her natural Tamaranian coloring. "Have you checked on the ship lately?" Komand'r asked, not taking her eyes off the screen.

"Yes. The emergency signal is still transmitting."

More silence followed before Komand'r spoke again, "We're so far away from Tamaran it'll take years for the signal to reach. And even if the ship we got here in wasn't completely wrecked, there's no way it would have enough fuel to get to another planet, let alone another star system."

"Would that be so bad?" Komand'r looked at Kori. "I miss Tamaran. More than anything. Every night I dream of flying over the forests near the capital. Seeing mother, father and Ryand'r. And everyone else." A far away smile gracing her face as she talked.

"What's your point Koriand'r?"

"As much as I miss Tamaran, I like it here on Earth. The people are lovely, the culture is fascinating..."

The women have since finished their wrestling match, dried off and dressed; and were now screaming profanities at one another. "Clearly." Komand'r said before turning the T.V. off.

"Even Tamaran has aspects of its civilization we are not proud of."

"Yes, but at least we have the sense not to put such aspects on display like this." Kori had no defense for that. That show was deplorable. "This whole planet needs to be disinfected."

"It is not so bad."

"Please." Komand'r finally got up from the couch, "These hairless apes are so far below us on the evolutionary ladder I think I've actually gotten dumber since learning their language. If we had come to this planet for any other reason it would be as conquers!"

"Do not be ridiculous Komand'r. You know we only attack planets that have shown hostility towards us or refuse trade. This planet has no minerals or goods that would be valuable to us. We would have no reason to attack it."

Komand'r scoffs and walks towards the kitchen, "Then this planet is well and truly useless, is it not?"

"That is not what I meant and you know it." Koriand'r got up and followed her.

"Why do you care so much?"

"I told you, I like here! I have made friends, people I care about."

"What, that blue haired little nothing?" Komand'r scoffed as she took a beer bottle out of the fridge.

"Harper is not a NOTHING!"

"THEY ARE ALL NOTHING KORIAND'R!" Komand'r slammed the bottle on the counter, smashing it and leaving a dent in the surface.

Neither spoke, just glaring at each other for almost a minute. Until Komand'r looked at her dripping wet hand. The glass, of course, hadn't pierced her skin; but beer was spreading all over the counter top. "One of us should clean that up." Koriand'r said.

Komand'r just grabbed another beer and said, "Knock yourself out." as she left the kitchen. Koriand'r glared at her sister before cleaning up her mess.

The kitchen now clean, Koriand'r sat on the couch next to her dark haired sibling as she flipped through different channels. "We should not be fighting like this." The younger princess finally said.

Komand'r stopped on a cartoon with a yellow sea creature. She liked the absurd humor of the show. "We are sisters, Koriand'r. Fighting is what we do."

"Yes, but now we are all the other has. I have made friends here...But you are my only sister. My blood. The only family I have on this planet." Kori grabbed her sister's hand and held it. "I do not want to have these petty fights."

Komand'r looked at her sister for a moment, and then pulled her into a hug. "Very well, dear sister. I apologize."

"As do I, sister." They separate and relax into the cushions of the couch. Kori smiled her thousand watt smile as she clapped her hands together, "Now that we have reconciled, we should do something fun together. Oh, we could visit the movie theater!" She turned to Komand'r, an excited twinkle in her green eyes.

Komand'r shook her head, but never the less said, "Fine, Koriand'r. But first allow me to wash the stench of fried food off me." She got off the couch with a grimace and made her way to the bathroom.

* * *

After a combined hour of preparation from both sisters, Kori and Carmine left their apartment. Carmine's disguise has a complexion a shade or two darker than Kori's, but the same green eyes. She wore a dark blue mid-drift tee with "Bad Girl" printed on the front (Yea, I know, really blatant foreshadowing. Don't shot me.) and low-riding skinny jeans to show off her hips in all the right ways. Kori had on a violet long sleeved shirt and black mini skirt, as well as a couple of bracelets.

At the main entrance of the building, they ran into the landlord, "Oh, if it isn't the beautiful Anders girls from 5C." the elderly man said as he got his mail.

"Hello Mr. Levy. How are you this evening?" Kori asked cheerfully. Carmine just huffed and crossed her arms.

"Can't complain, can't complain. I see you two are hittin' the town tonight."

"Yes, we are having a sister's night at the movies." Kori said as she pulled Carmine closer to her by the arm. The older Anders attempted a weak smile for about half a second before falling back into a scowl.

Mr. Levy walked around the sisters and made his way back upstairs, "Well don't let me keep you. And don't do anything I wouldn't. Heh-heh." The old man gave a hearty chuckle as Kori waved goodbye to him.

Kori left the building, her sister following lethargically behind. "Must you talk with everyone you meet?"

"Mr. Levy is a nice man. You'd know that if you bothered to talk with him." Kori answered walking down the street.

"I'd rather have Mundagian leeches burrow into my head."

* * *

The next day, Kori was studying in the library with Harper and two other girls. She had barely touched her school books after going to the movies with Komand'r, and had some catching up to do. Kori was reading about the Spanish Inquisition when the conversation of the other girls caught her attention, "It was just like those weird fireballs people were seeing a while ago, remember?" The blonde, Violet, said in a hushed tone. The libertarian had already warned the gossiping girls about talking to loud twice now.

"Of course I remember," The darker skinned girl, Tiana, answered also in a quiet voice. "One of 'em kept heading towards the school. I'm surprised it didn't blow us up or something. Did anyone ever figure out what those things were?"

"I don't think so. But this one turned out to be some flying chick in this skimpy looking outfit."

"Jesus Christ. Like we didn't have enough to worry about in this city with homicidal clowns, and nine foot tall alligators; now we got flying stripper jewel thieves?"

"Crocodile." Harper said, curtly.

"What?" Violet and Tiana asked in unison.

"Well, his name's Killer Croc. It only stands to reason he's a crocodile."

"Oh, that is so not the point!" Tiana said, her voice going up an octave and Harper and Violet shushing her. Lowering her voice again, Tiana continued, "The point is we have enough freaks in this city without having to worry about super strong flying bitches."

"'Super Strong Flying Bitches' would be an awesome name for an all-girl band." Harper said smiling to herself.

"Make that super strong flying...Bs that shoots lasers out of their hands." Violet corrected.

"Nah, that's too long."

Kori had absent-mindedly read the same page three times as the other girls continued their conversation, becoming more and more worried as it went on.

Harper shrugged, "Eh, I ain't too worried. Ol' Bats take care of her eventually."

"I don't know. You think even a vampire could stand up to something like this?" Violet asked.

"Batman isn't a vampire." Harper said with a scoff, "I mean he's been around for...What, six/seven years? I can't believe stupid rumors like that are still around."

"You'd better believe her, Vi." Tiana said smirking, "Harper's the biggest Batman fan girl in Gotham."

"Oh, shut up." The blue haired punk threw a paper ball at her friend. The girls burst into a short giggle fit; until the librarian shushed them again.

The girls quieted down, except Kori who remained silent throughout the whole thing. When the girls started talking again, the topic had changed to gossip about a school athlete being suspended.

Kori tried to focus on her studies, but couldn't shake the feeling of dread about the flying robber they were discussing before. "Friend Violet." Softly getting the blonde's attention, "The thief you were talking about..."

Harper got an amused smile on her face, "Y'mean the Super Strong Flying-"

"Yes, her." She interrupted her, not wanting the insult to be addressed to the thief, not if it was who she thought it was. "I was wondering, do you know what this woman looked like?"

The other girls looked confused by her question. "Uh, you mean besides the flaming hair?" Kori nodded. Flaming hair, that wasn't a good sign. "I think I heard that her skin was kind of orange-ish gold, and her eyes were like, totally green. No pupils or nothing."

"Dude, she sounds like an alien." Harper said chuckling.

"Maybe we should call Superman or the Manhunter to deal with her." Tiana said.

"No way. I'm telling ya, Bats can handle it." Harper immediately shot back.

As the others engaged in a debate as to which superhero is the most capable, Kori sank into her seat, a crushed look plastered on her face. 'From Violet's description, the thief is obviously Tamaranian.' Kori thought to herself, 'Which means that either there is another of our people on Earth...Or Komand'r...is...'

Kori shook the idea from her head, 'No. Komand'r would not stoop to thievery. She would not. I know she...'

"Kori?" The distressed red head looked to see Harper with concern in her eyes. "You okay?"

Kori looked to her other friends, either looking either confused or worried. "Uh, yes. I am fine. I..." She started gathering her things, "I think I am done studying. I will see you in class, friends." She offered the other girls a weak smile before getting up and walking away from the table.

"Hey, wait up." Harper grabbed the red head's arm. "Hey, Kori what's wrong?" She was about to answer, but Harper interrupted, "And don't say nothing. I know something's up."

Kori sighed, "It is complicated. I do not think I can explain it."

Harper glared at her, but relented all the same, "Fine. But if you're not gonna tell me what's buggin' you; I can at least help you forget it for the night."

"What do you mean?" Kori cocked an eyebrow in confusion.

"I mean the four of us having fun tonight!" Harper slung her arm as best she could around Kori's shoulder. "You, me, Vi, and Tiana; we're gonna make this town regret we ever lived here." She bumped her hip into Kori in her excitement.

Kori couldn't help but giggle at Harper's enthusiasm. Thinking about it, this was probably the best thing she could do. Komand'r already told her she wouldn't be home until late that night. So it was either go out with her friends, or sit at home and worry.

Honestly, it wasn't even a choice. "Very well, Harper. I'll go. Where do we meet?"

"Downtown Gotham. Whatever's bothering you, you'll forget all about it, and probably even you own name by the end of the night." She walked back to the table they once sat to inform the other girls of her plans.

Kori continued out of the library. Whatever the truth is, it's all moot until she can talk with her sister face to face. She just hoped, against all logic, that Komand'r isn't the thief.

* * *

They were at least an hour into their night out, and the girls were whooping like drunk collage girls. Mostly because they were drunk. Harper somehow got her hand on a case of beer and they'd snuck 'em into the first club they hit. Unfortunately, they were thrown out for disorderly conduct.

Now they were stumbling drunkenly down the street. Well, all of them except Kori. Just one of the benefits of her Tamaranian physiology. She could drink any human under the table if she wanted.

"Okay, seriously, how the hell are you still walking straight?" Harper asked, nearly tripping over herself. "I'm pretty sure you had more than any of us. So what gives?"

"I, uh...Have a very strong constitution." Technically not a lie.

"Huh, ya mind sharing some of it with Vi?" Harper points over to Violet who, after only two bottles, is hanging onto Tiana for dear life while singing loudly and off-key, "Cause I've got a brand new Combine Harvester and I'll give you the key! Dun-da-dun-da-da! Come on let's get together in perfect harmony!"

"That's it, baby. Sing for the camera." Tiana goaded her friend on while getting the entire performance on film with her phone.

"Tiana is way too mean sometimes." Harper said while laughing her head off. Kori smiled her usual bright smile. This truly had helped her. She was still worried about her sister, obviously, but it didn't seem as bleak as before. Kori'd figure out what to say to Komand'r when the time came to confront her at home. For now, she could relax and enjoy the night with her friends.

Or that's what she planned on when a squad of police cars raced by them, and were promptly blown to bits by energy beams similar to Koriand'r's own Starbolts. "No..."

A black fireball flew over the street before stopping in midair and proving Koriand'r's worst fears correct. Komand'r floated above the streets in her Tamaranian armor, a dark blue chest plate that covered her chest and neck, but exposed her mid-section, bracers on her wrists, shorts and thigh high boots. Black flames fanning off her long dark hair, she had a duffle bag slung over her shoulder. A few of the police opened fire on the rouge alien. The bullets either missing or bouncing off her armor before she blasts them back.

The girls back away from the battle looking in horror of the scene, "Holy crap! It's the Super Strong Flying Bitch!" Tiana shouted.

"Komand'r." While her friends try to get away from the chaos, with tears in her eyes, Koriand'r walks towards her sister in the middle of it all.

Harper notices and yells out to her friend, "Kori, what are you doing!? Get your ass out of there!"

A stray starbolt from Komand'r blasts a cop car in to the air and on a path to crush the three girls. Kori, acting on pure instinct, flies up and catches the car in mid-air, orange flames trailing behind her long curls. Her friends stare in wide eyed awe as Kori gently places the car down.

The cop still in the car gets out and says to her, "Uh thanks?" before running off.

"You are welcome." She calls back, before turning to her friends.

The three girls stare dumbfounded at the flaming haired girl before them. "I must be really drunk." Violet slurs, "Because I could have sworn I just saw Kori flying and holding a car."

"That's because you did." Tiana said, still in shock.

Harper walked up to Kori, "Kori...I...What?"

Before the alien princess could say anything, another series of explosions catches her attention first. She turns back to her blue haired friend, "Harper, take Violet and Tiana and get somewhere safe." She turns away and walks towards the destruction again.

'Wait, where are you going?"

Kori turns off her disguise as she says, "I am going to have a word with my sister." She flies away leaving her friends to get to safety.

Komand'r threw another car at the cops before blowing it up, successfully suppressing their resistance. But just as she was about to fly away with her loot, someone shouting her name stopped her.

Koriand'r flew in front of her sister and stared her down. Below them, one of the few cops still conscious muttered out loud, "Oh god not another one."

"Dear sister! What a surprise to see you here. Well, like I said we won't have to worry about money for a while." She said, holding up the bag.

Kori looks at the bag with disappointment in her eyes, "Who did you steal from?"

Komand'r laughed lightly at the question, "Why ask? It's not like it matters."

"TELL ME WHO STOLE FROM, KOMAND'R!"

Komand'r looked genuinely surprised by her sister's outburst. Koriand'r is usually so calm; it usually takes a lot for her to lose her temper. "I don't know."

"Komand'r..." The younger princess growled.

"It was some bank, I don't remember the name." She said with a shrug like it wasn't a big deal. "I don't see why you care."

"Why I-Komand'r, look at what you have done!" She yelled, gesturing to the destruction around them.

"We are warriors, Koriand'r. This is what we do."

"This is not an act of a warrior. You attacked an enemy that could never hope to match you. That is not what we were taught!"

"We were taught to survive and win." Komand'r said with her usual arrogance. "And that's clearly what I've done. This is what we need to survive in this world," She held up the bag again, "And this is how we are going to get it. Not working at that pathetic restaurant. It's beneath me; beneath us."

"And theft isn't?"

"It's not my first choice, but its fun, and I am good at it."

Kori closed her eyes and sighed heavily. Then, with a determined scowl she grabbed one of the bag's straps and tried to pull it towards her; but Komand'r held on to it, "You will return what you have stolen. And you will not steal again!"

Komand'r's face grew dark and furious at her little sister's demands, "I think, dear BABY sister, we are again forgetting who is older here."

"You are not acting like it. Now will return the money you have taken?"

"And if I don't?" The black haired princess asked with a smirk, "Who will make me."

The alien sisters glare daggers at each other for a minute before Koriand'r said, "I will!" And she blasts her sister with her own Starbolt. Flying backwards, Komand'r let go of the bag. Koriand'r threw the bag to the police and flew after her sister.

When she came closer to where her sister landed, Komand'r rocketed towards her and punched her right in the stomach. She followed up with an uppercut, grabbing a fistful of her hair and threw her into a building. Kori flew out of the way before Komand'r could blast her. She dodged a few more blasts until she was close enough to Komand'r to punch her right in the face and kick her in the chest, sending her flying back.

Koriand'r followed ready to strike again, but Komand'r blocked. The older princess tried to hit her back, but Koriand'r caught the punch. Before Komand'r could make another move, Koriand'r grabbed both of her sister's wrists, reared back, head-butted Komand'r, and followed it up with another starbolt sending Komand'r to the ground in a crater.

Koriand'r flew towards her prone sister. Komand'r fired another bolt which Koriand'r dodged easily. Unfortunately, that exactly what Komand'r wanted. Taking immediate advantage of her sister's momentary distraction, Komand'r flew up and grabbed Koriand'r by the neck. She slammed her down into the street. She flew forward, pushing Koriand'r through the pavement as she did, then threw her into a car.

As Kori struggled to get up, Komand'r said to her, "Since mother and father aren't here to discipline you, baby sister," The red head looked up to see her sister holding another car over her head. "I guess I'll have to!" She brought the car down on her, and then blew both up with a starbolt.

Koriand'r was blown across the streets and landed in a heap, her sun dress either singed or torn. Komand'r hovers over her with a smug smile. "You should have known this would happen, Koriand'r. I have always been stronger than you." Koriand'r slowly got her knees. "I want you to know that I don't wish to hurt you dear sister. But I will if you insist on trying to stop me."

Koriand'r stood uneasy and glared at her sister. Komand'r just sighed, "I know that look. Fine if that's how you want this to go." The dark haired princess's hands glow with energy. Before Komand'r could continue to attack her sister, an explosive projectile knocks her back.

Koriand'r doesn't even have enough time to question what just happened before a black figure grabs her and flies her to a nearby building. It dumped her carelessly on the roof. She looked over her shoulder to see a man dressed in a dark Kevlar suit, a black cape and cowl covering his face except for his mouth and chin. A young girl, around her age and dressed in a similar dark suit except for a cowl covering her mouth and a mask over her eyes, stood next to him. Both bore bat symbols on their chests.

"You...you are the Batman." Koriand'r said in awe.

"You and your friend are tearing up the city." He said curtly and with a tone in his voice that brokered no room for argument. "I want to know why."

Koriand'r would have answered, if Komand'r hadn't begun screaming in the streets below, "KORIAND'R! WHERE ARE YOU!? DON'T YOU HIDE FROM ME!"

Koriand'r stood up and walked towards the edge of the building to look down to see her sister flying around trying to find her. "She is not my friend, she is my sister."

"That doesn't explain why you were fighting." Batman said simply.

"We had a disagreement." Koriand'r said in a low sad voice, "I wished she would return money that she had stolen. She refused."

Batman paused for a moment before saying to her, "I can't have your sister wrecking Gotham like this. I will have to stop her."

"Then allow me to help. She is my sister. That means she is my responsibility."

Batman eyed Kori for a moment, "I don't think-" The girl grabbed his arm and gave him a look. Batman sighed and turned back to Kori. "Fine, here's what we're going to do."

* * *

Tonight was a complete bust. The police finally got a good look at her, she lost the money, and Koriand'r got away somehow. Komand'r scanned the streets one last time with a sneer. If she couldn't find Koriand'r, she might as well head home, and wait to see if her sister has changed her mind. She was just grateful that she could still hide as Carmine Anders.

Turning to fly back to her apartment, a bola ensnares Komand'r in midair. Batman drops down on a car near her, "Oh, the Batman. Didn't I already defeat you? I'm surprised you are on your feet already."

"I heal fast. Plus I have some back up now."

Komand'r looked confused for a second before Koriand'r blasted her from behind. Batman threw two explosive bataranges at the tied princess and her sister knocked her back towards the street.

Komand'r finally frees herself and is about to blast Koriand'r when Batman's grapple line wraps around her waist and pulls her down. Batman dive kicks Komand'r to the ground and jumps away from her while throwing a smoke bomb.

Komand'r stumbled around in the smoke until Batman's electrified fist smashed into her face. More blows connected to her chest, stomach, back and face as Komand'r failed to strike Batman back or hit him with a starbolt. When the smoke started to dissipate, Batman pressed a shock glove against Komand'r's neck to stun her, then threw her towards a waiting Koriand'r and received a starbolt powered uppercut.

As Batman and Koriand'r continued to battle the rogue princess, Batgirl snuck into an office building with a bow and arrow. She made her way up to the ninth floor and found a window facing the battle. She opened the window, activated a signal on her belt, and knotted an arrow.

Batman received his young partners signal and called out, "Koriand'r, now!"

The red head grabs her sister and puts her into a full nelson to hold her in place, "What are you doing Koriand'r?"

"Making sure you will not hurt anyone else!"

Batgirl takes the opportunity Koriand'r gave and shoots the arrow at Komand'r. The arrowhead bounces off the alien princess's skin, but the impact releases a gas right in her face. Koriand'r releases Komand'r and flies back, letting Komand'r get the full dose.

Komand'r coughs a few times, "Really, is that the best you can do? That was more pathetic than I-" She's silenced by her muscles seizing up. Komand'r's whole body begins convulsing uncontrollably and she falls out of the sky.

Koriand'r floats down next to where Komand'r landed. The black haired princess's body spasms one more time then stopped moving. She looked up to her sister, "What...What did you do to me?"

"It's a nerve gas I developed to incapacitate super-humans." Batman answered as Koriand'r just looked at her defeated sister with pity. "It induces a temporary state of paralysis. You won't be moving for the next few hours." He sat Komand'r up to place her in handcuffs and pressed a button on one of his gauntlets. A few seconds later a large tank-like vehicle drove up to them as Batgirl glided gracefully onto the scene.

Batman picked Komand'r up bridal style as a compartment in the back of the vehicle opened with two seats designed to hold prisoners inside. He placed Komand'r in one of the seats. Koriand'r and Komand'r's eyes meet before the compartment closed. Koriand'r with a look of sadness, and Komand'r with pure hatred.

The vehicle drove off after securing Komand'r. "What will happen to her now?" Koriand'r asked looking in the direction her sister was carried off in.

"I programmed the Batmobile to take your sister to the GCPD central station. From there she will more than likely be sent to Bel Reeve. Neither Black Gate nor Arkham have the facilities to hold an alien with her kind of power." The dark knight answered clinically.

When Koriand'r just kept staring off into the distance, Batgirl put her hand on Batman's shoulder and said, "Comfort." Gesturing to Koriand'r.

Batman glanced at his partner, then walk towards the distraught red head. "Koriand'r, I'm sorry about your sister. I'm assuming you have no other relatives, at least not on Earth." Batgirl shook her head; she was starting to realize Batman wasn't the best at this whole "Comforting people" thing.

Koriand'r looked towards the ground, "No. Komand'r was the only family I had. And it is too far to contact the rest of my people." She hugs herself, "I am alone." Batman puts a gloved hand on Kori's shoulder in a rare show of compassion.

"Kori!" Harper ran up to her friend and the two dark heroes. She stopped for a second to catch her breath; then immediately lost it the second she saw the imposing figure standing next to Kori. "Holy crap. You're Batman." The Dark Knight silently nods. "Wow, you're built like a tank..." She shook her head and turned her attention back to Kori. "Kori, are you okay? Ya look like hell."

"Harper, what are you doing here? I told you to get somewhere safe with Violet and Tiana." Koriand'r said.

"I made sure Vi and Tiana got out of the warzone, but if you think I'm leaving my girl behind you really are from another planet."

"Harper." Kori smiled gently at her friend.

"So I guess the Super Strong Flying...Uh...I guess that was Carmine, huh?" She pointed in the direction of the Batmobile. Kori's expression became downcast as she nodded. "Kori look, if there is anything you need or something I can help with, anything at all, don't hesitate to ask, alright?"

Teary eyed, Koriand'r pulls Harper into a hug. "Family." The two girls turn to see Batman now standing next to Batgirl. They had actually forgotten the heroes were even here. "Kor..i...and...r, You still have family. Harper is family." She talked slowly and with a slight accent, like English wasn't her first language.

"Family doesn't end, with blood." Batman added, "You should think about that. Good luck, and keep out of trouble. Let's go, Batgirl." The two heroes pull out grapple guns and zip away.

"Damn, I just met Batman and Batgirl." Harper said in awe. "Too bad Robin wasn't here. And I could have sworn Batgirl was a red head." She then looked at Koriand'r. "So this is what you really look like. Not bad."

Koriand'r giggled softly at her friend. The sound of sirens caught the girls' attention, "We should leave." Kori pulled the blue haired girl closer to her and flew way from the approaching police cars. "Where are Violet and Tiana?"

"Oh man! I can't believe we're flying!" Harper cheered.

"Harper!"

"What? Oh, right I left 'em on 5th and Jefferson. Hopefully Tee managed to get Vi back home in one piece." Kori landed in a nearby park and let Harper down. "By the way, the flaming hair is sick."

"Thank you, friend Harper. And I too hope our friends are safe." Kori walked over to a bench and sat down.

Harper sat next to her, "So what are ya gonna do now?" She glanced at Kori who look very unsure, "I meant what I said. You need anything, I'm here for you."

"I know. We are family, after all." She said with a small smile. "I am not sure what I will do. My sister has been arrested, and it could be years before someone from my home will come to find me."

"So you really are an alien then."

Kori nodded her head, "You are taking this very well."

Harper scoffed, "Kori, this is a city with a guy dressed in a bat costume, a dude made of clay, and a green chick that controls plants. My best friend being an alien is exactly the weirdest thing in the world anymore."

Kori smiled and looked up at the sky. After a moment of comfortable silence, Harper said, "Y'know, you should probably leave." The alien princess turned to her friend, "Don't get me wrong, I'd love it if you'd stay. But you land on Earth and the first place you end up is Gotham? That sucks. I mean, you can fly. You should be out seeing the world. And with Carmine in jail there's really nothing keeping you here."

"Only you."

"Yea, cause I'm a good not to be awesome. Come on, if you got out of this cesspool you could make a name for yourself. Be big, a star." Something popped into Harper's mind at that moment, "Starfire. Has a nice ring to it, huh?"

"Do you really think I should go?"

"As much as I don't want you to...Yea. I do."

Harper and Kori smile at each other, then Kori and kisses Harper on the temple. "Then this is good bye, friend Harper."

The alien girl stood up to walk from under the tree line followed by her friend. "You had better come visit. Often. And call whenever possible." Kori smiled and waved good bye. She shot into the sky like a rocket, climbing higher and higher until all that was visible of her was a glowing fireball. Along with Harper, a cloaked figure watched as the light of the flaming girl disappeared.

* * *

Starfire was one of the first Titans I thought should be on the team. Both the comics and the cartoon tend to have Kori's story focus on her being an alien and being weird and stuff. So I thought it'd be interesting to see her already living on Earth for a while had gotten used to some of our culture. I always had the idea that Blackfire would be with Kori and eventually have the two turn against each other.

Adding Harper was a last minute thing. I needed a friend for Kori to interact with and I wanted it to be a pre-existing Gotham citizen. At first it was going to be Stephanie Brown, but then I remembered Harper and how much I liked her so in she went. I'm curious how people are going to react to Harper and Kori's relationship. I accidentally wrote their dialog a bit more romantic than I originally planned to.

And for anyone curious, Cass has been Batgirl for a few of weeks by the time of this story, that's why she can talk a little and Batman is so accepting of her. Unfortunately, I'm not planning on Cass appearing in any of the other Titans' origin stories. You probably won't see her again until the big team up at chapter nine.

Up next is The Machine.


	3. The Mechine

Well...This took much longer than I planned. I'm also not very happy with how this chapter ended. I'll get more into this at the end as usual. For now, enjoy what's good about this.

* * *

The Machine

The ball is snapped, and the quarterback throws a long drive. Victor caught the pass with ease and ran for all he was worth; which is now considerably more than the last time he tried out. The other players tried to stop him, but he either avoided them over forced them out of his way with more strength than his otherwise lathe frame would suggest.

Making it to the end zone, Victor spiked the ball and tore off his helmet in celebration. The other players, the ones Vic hadn't mowed down at least, all cheered him on. "Good work, Stone! Good work!" The coach walked onto the field, meeting Vic half way.

"Thanks, coach. So, what do you think, did I make the team?"

"Did you?" The coach slung an arm around Vic's shoulders, "Son, after what you did today, I'm starting you in the next game." Victor smiled in unbridled joy, he finally made it.

That last play just sealed the fact that the thin framed student was Metropolis High Centurions' material. He had been performing far above expectations all day, though considering his performance last try-out (And all those before) that isn't really saying much. He ran faster, threw farther, dodged quicker, and tackled harder than any other player on the field, including the varsity players.

He couldn't help but feel like he's cheating, but what people don't know can't hurt them, right?

"Victor!" The coach and Victor look over and see a middle-aged man with glasses and a well-tailored suit glaring at them. Victor grimaces and swears under his breathe while the couch walks up to him, "Mr. Stone, great timing! I was just congratulating Vic on finally making the team." He holds out his hand to Vic's father.

"Dr. Stone, Coach Whitmore." He says ignoring the extended hand and emphasizing the Doctor.

A bit unnerved, the coach retracts his hand. "Uh...right. Well I don't know what you've been feeding this kid, but..."

"I'm sorry coach," Dr. Stone interrupted, "But I'm afraid Victor will have to rescind his offer to join your team."

"WHAT!?" Both Vic and Coach Whitmore asked at the same time.

"Dad, you know how long I've wanted this. You can't just-"

"That's enough Victor!" Dr. Stone's voice drawing more attention to the situation than he wanted, he lowered it to address his son. "Do. Not. Argue with me. Not now. Go get changed and I'll meet you at the car." He then turned and walked away.

Vic's face contorted in frustration, "I don't believe it! He can't do this!"

"I'm afraid he can son. The rules say you need a parent's permission to be on the team." Vic's shoulders sagged and he let out a depressed sigh. Coach was right. He didn't even know why he tried out in the first place. Maybe if his dad saw him make the team, or saw how good he was now...Or maybe he just wanted to prove that he could make the cut. Prove it to who exactly, he wasn't completely sure.

Either way, it didn't matter at this point. The coach put a hand on Vic's shoulder, "It alright Vic. Maybe you and your old man can talk about this and work it all out, huh?" Whitmore blew his whistle to get the teams attention; probably to tell them Vic wasn't joining the team. Victor wasn't sure; he wasn't really paying attention as her walked back to the locker room.

"Work it out?" Vic scoffs, "Fat chance."

Vic got changed and exited the school building, seeing his dad's car right away. It wasn't hard; Dr. Stone always parked in front of the school. Mostly because he was rarely in the school for more than ten minute.

As soon as Vic got comfortable in the passenger seat, his dad laid into him, "What were you thinking, Victor!?" Vic flinched at the tone of his voice. "Trying out for a contact sport; with your enhancements? Of all the reckless, irresponsible thing you could have done..."

"Dad, I know what I'm doing. I've had the cybernetics for three months now; and if I could handle eggs without breakin' 'em, I can handle a linebacker without breakin' him."

"You don't know that, Victor." Dr. Stone said, becoming aggravated by his son's stubbornness. "We still don't know what your upper limits are, and we both know you have a temper. What if you hurt someone by accident?"

"Dad..." Vic sighed exasperatedly.

"I'm serious Victor. The operations I did to give you your enhancements are still illegal. They were never sanctioned. If you get anyone hurt, if anyone finds out about your enhancements..."

"Wait; THAT'S what you're worried about? Going to jail?"

"Victor, it's not that simple..."

"Y'know what?" Victor said shaking his head, "I'm not even surprised. All you've ever done is care about yourself!" In his anger, Victor slammed a fist into the car door, sending it flying across the parking lot.

Caught off guard by the accidental show of strength, and not wanting to hear an "I told you so" from his dad, Vic jumped out of the car and ran off, "Victor! Wait!" But his father was the last person he wanted to see right now.

A little less than an hour later Victor found himself aimlessly wandering through Metropolis. He had calmed down a fair bit since leaving his dad and was even willing to admit he may have overreacted a bit. The surgery that saved his life had been illegal. It was untested and if something had gone wrong Victor could have died. It was understandably he'd be worried about being arrested.

But in his defense, Silas Stone has never been the best father in the world. A part of him was still kinda surprised his dad would take that kind of risk. It made him remember everything that happened three months ago.

* * *

Tryouts had ended a while ago but Victor was still sitting on the bench, every muscle in his body screaming in pain. Just like last year, and the year before that, and the year before that. He'd been trying out for the team every year since middle school, and at this point he was starting to think Coach Whitmore only allowed him to keep trying to get a laugh out of the other players.

Sometimes he wondered why he still even tried. He sat there for a good while, wallowing in self-pity and because he could barely move (Did I mention how much pain he was in?) when a blonde boy walked up to him and sat on the bench next to him.

"So..." He started, "How'd it go?"

"How do you think, Gar?" Vic replied with his head still down.

"I'm sorry dude," Gar said, patting his friend's shoulder and causing him to wince, "Sorry."

"Is it possible for your hair to hurt?"

Gar and Vic sat in silence for a moment before the blonde said, "Y'know, Vic...I know that this is where I'm supposed to be the supportive best friend. Say something like, 'Don't worry, man, you'll make it next year.' Or, 'You just need to train a little harder.' But, dude, real talk?" Victor looked at his friend, already sure what he's about to say, "I think it might be time to call it quits." He said grimacing, as if the words physically hurt to say.

Victor just looks back down and closes his eyes. Gar, more gently this time, puts a hand on Vic's shoulder, "Hey, man...I just..."

But Victor cuts him off with a raised hand, "Naw, man...It's alright." He sighed and rubbed his face. He knew Gar's platitudes would be as hollow and meaningless as he made them seem. After more than five years, the chances that Vic would make the team as a senior were basically zero. It wouldn't matter how much he trained or practiced (Hell, he'd only gained four or five pounds after an entire summer's worth of training and an all protein diet) he'd never be fast or strong enough to join. Not without steroids at least.

"Y'know," Gar started, "Maybe football just isn't your thing. Why don't you join drama club with me this year? It could be fun."

Vic shook his head and chuckled lightly, "Yeah, 'cus I'm in a big hurry to wear tights and sing show tunes."

"Hey, I don't wear tights." Then Gar thought for a second, "Well, okay I did for A Mid-Summer Night's Dream last year. But I don't think we're doing any Shakespeare this year. Or musicals." He assured his injured friend.

The failed athlete sighed again. Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing. You can only stay with a dream for so long before it becomes an exercise in futility. And he'd get to hang out with Gar a bit more. Not to mention drama club tends to attract some very pretty women. And hell, he didn't even have to act; not that he was sure if he could or not. If he can build a computer by himself he could work lights or something like that.

The alarm on his phone goes off, and Vic groans as he slowly stands up. "I'm late." As the mass of raw nerves known as Victor Stone takes a minute to steady himself and prepare for the agony that is walking, he says to his blonde friend, "Look, I'll think about the whole drama club thing, Gar. But for right now I gotta pick up dad so we can get to Suzie's dance recital."

"Right, later Vic." They fist bump, and part, Victor slowly walking to the showers.

It took Vic a bit longer than he'd like admit to change and get to his car, but if he hurried he could still make it to the dance studio. Assuming, of course, he didn't get into it with his father...Again.

He made it to S.T.A.R. Labs with less than half an hour to spare. The attendant at the front desk gave him a key care for his father's lab. Normally you'd need an appointment for something like that to happen, but since Victor is Dr. Stone's son, he can enter the lab anytime; provided the doctor isn't performing important or dangerous experiments that shouldn't be interrupted.

Of course that wasn't the only reason, it's not like little Suzie could just walk into Dr. Stone's lab whenever she wanted. Victor's passion may be football, but he is also just as skilled in engineering and robotics as his father and late mother. Victor would often help Dr. Stone on experiments and prototypes when he had the time. It was some of the few times the two weren't yelling at each other.

But of course that just brought up more issues for them to deal with. Victor's technical brilliance was the only thing Silas was proud of him for. He didn't support or appreciate Vic's love of sports.

Victor Walked into his father's office to see him working on some kind of paper work. "Dad...?"

Silas looked up to his son examined him quickly, then went right back to his work. "I take it you didn't make the team."

Vic scowled at his father, even though he obviously wasn't paying attention to him. "Naw, I didn't."

"Surprise, surprise." Silas sighed and took off his glasses. "Victor, you've been trying out for that pointless sport for years. Don't you think it's about time you gave up on this nonsense and focused more on you grades?"

"Dad, I have a 3.7 GPA. My grades are fine."

"That doesn't sound like a 4.0 to me." He says while putting his glasses back on and returning to his work.

Vic closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, trying to keep himself calm. Doing his best to not argue with his dad, it'd only waste more time. "Fine, whatever. Are you ready to go?"

"Go?" Silas looked at Victor with a cocked brow.

"To Suzie's recital." Vic sighed and rubbed his brow, "You forgot again."

"I'm sorry Victor. I need to finish these equations. I'm not going to be able to make it."

"Dad..." Vic said exasperated, "Come on. You can't miss this one."

"I can't make it, Victor. I'm sorry. Tell Suzie I'll come next time."

"You said that last time! Do you have any idea how long that girl's been practicing? Or how excited she was to show you how good she's gotten?"

"Fine, Victor. I'm sure someone will be recording the whole thing, just have whoever it is send me a copy and we'll watch it at home together."

"It isn't about you watching it," Victor ground out through gritted teeth losing more and more of his composure as the conversation continued. "It's about you being there! It's about your daughter looking into the crowd to see her father watching her dance!"

Silas took a deep breath, they both knew it was gonna come down to this. It usually did. Silas and Victor always argued when they were alone for more than two minutes. It may have been a simple father/son thing or something deeper. Probably something deeper.

Pretty damn certain it's something deeper. "Listen to me Victor: What we're doing here, it's important. If I can get these equations right, I'll have carte blanche to start human testing. The cybernetic enhancements we're working on could save millions of lives. I'm sure Suzie will understand why I couldn't go."

"I'm sure she will. But that doesn't mean she won't be heartbroken knowing you missed ANOTHER one of her shows."

"But at the very least she'll have better control over her temper than you." Silas put his glasses back on and prepared to get back to work, "Now if you'll excuse me..."

"Mom would have come." Silas stopped moving, it was hard to tell if he was even breathing. "She would have dropped everything she was doing the second I stepped in the door would have been in the damn car before I could get a word out. You know she would." Victor was surprisingly calm with his words. Usually he'd be screaming at his father by now, to the point where someone would come bursting into the room to make sure they weren't trying to murder each other. But bringing up his mother hurt him just as much as he'd hoped it would Silas.

And it did. The subject of Elinore Stone was the one thing on the planet that could well and truly affect Silas. She was the reason he came to bed before sunrise, didn't spend a full twenty hours at the lab, and actually took the time to see his damn family. But when she died, as horribly cliché as it sounds, a part of him died with her.

And it dies every time Victor brings her up again, because he always has to say, "Well, I'm not you mother. Now get out." Silas sat back down and continued his work. A haunted quiet in the way he spoke.

Victor didn't bother trying to say anything else, he just left. The "Mom Card" was an extremely dangerous tactic to use, as it usually left both of the emotionally sore for a few hours. It was usually also a futile tactic besides. Sometimes it would spur his father into some kind of action, even if it wasn't the type of action Victor expected, but more often than not it just caused him to close up even tighter.

And to make things worse, the time he wasted arguing with his dad made Vic late for Suzie's recital. Fortunately, Vic made in about half way through her class's performance. Vic could see a flicker of joy in his sister's face for all but a second before a clear look of disappointment became apparent. But she tried to be strong and continued her part of the performance without missing a beat.

Well, okay she did miss a few beats here and there, as did pretty much every other girl in the routine. They were five to eight years old, what'd you expect? This was an elementary school performance after all, so none of the acts showcased were anything resembling good, but that's not why anyone in the audience was actually there. It was to see their children dancing around in colorful costumes being cute.

After Suzie's class finished their routine Vic honestly just kinda clocked out. He tried to pay attention to the other acts...for about five minutes. Then he put on his head phones, played A Tribe Called Quest (Can't go wrong with Old-School) and started surfing the web on his phone until the recital was over.

Vic went backstage to see his sister. She'd already changed out of the tutu she wore during her performance and was talking to some of her friends. "Hey, Suzie!"

"Vicky!" The little girl ran to her brother, using the nickname only she was allowed to use. Suzie was, at least in Vic's opinion, the most adorable child on the planet. She had a bright expressive face, with a bit of baby fat still on her; not unlike many other girls her age. Her dark brown braided hair bounced as she ran, causing the burettes holding them in to click and clack. Vic still couldn't believe he WILLINGLY learned how to braid hair just to be his sister's personally stylist. But it wasn't like there was anyone else to do it.

Suzie ran into Vic's arms allowing him to lift her up, a radiant smile gracing her young face. Vic smiled back at her, "You ready to go?" She nodded, "Alright, then. Say good bye to your friends."

"Bye, girls!" Suzie waved to her friends, and the group of four other girls waved back, saying their own good byes.

Suzie was unusually quiet on the car ride back home. Ordinarily she'd be talking Vic's ear off about any number of subjects. But this time she just sat in the passenger seat silently. "I'm sorry I was late Suz..." Vic started, trying to get his sister to open up. "But I liked ya dance. Matter o' fact I think you were the best one up there." He said with no small amount of pride in his voice. And he really believed Suzie was the best on stage, if for no other reason that the other girls weren't all that good. And she is his sister after all.

The little girl sitting next to him smiles slightly at the compliments. But then she looked down at her hands. After a moment of silence, Vic was about to say something else but Suzie finally spoke, "Why didn't daddy come tonight?"

Vic just kept his eyes on the road and gripped the steering wheel tighter as he thought; _It's because he's a selfish excuse for a father and only cares about his damn research_. Vic bites back the venomous words and tried to think of something less antagonistic to say.

"He...had some work to do. Dad's been trying to figure out some equations for an experiment. It's 'important'." Even with the less accusing choice of words, Vic had a hard time keeping the bitterness out of his voice.

"Right..." the little dancer said in a small voice, "Daddy's research is important. Not like my stupid recital."

"Suz, come on. You recital wasn't stupid." Vic tried his best to keep Suzie's self-esteem has high as possible, usually by thinking of what his mom would do. When Vic was little, whenever he would do or mention anything that didn't involve something science related, Silas would just tune it out. Now he was doing the same thing to his daughter. It always fell to Elinore to show any kind of interest or affection for little Victor. Even if she had no idea what was going on, Elinore always watch football and basketball games with Vic, asking questions when she was especially lost. It helped Vic immensely growing up with that kind of support.

Suzie unfortunately didn't get the same treatment because Elinore died giving birth. You'd think Silas would hold some kind of subconscious hostility towards Suzie, but in all honesty he treated her better than he ever treated Vic. He actually listened when Suzie talked, and at least he said he go to her recitals. So far he never did, but at least he was trying. It was possible that he saw Suzie as the last piece of Elinore he had to hold on to and decided to go easier on her than he did with Victor.

That's not to say he was a good parent, just slightly better than before. He still failed miserably at showing any real tangible affection to his daughter, and Vic knew that would lead to all kinds of problems. So he made the decision to be to Suzie what Elinore was to him: A pillar of support to compensate for the lack of paternal attention. And he'd like to think it's made a difference in the little girl. Suzie was good at dancing, but Silas never had time to take Suzie to rehearsals or practice despite claiming he wanted to go (At the very least Silas had more respect for the arts than for sports) so Vic took her. He actually took the time to learn how to style girl's hair so she'd look good while dancing and even learned to sew to help make costumes. Suzie even managed to convince, not only Victor, but her Brownie's troop leader to make Vic a Den Mother. That girl could be a politician when she grew up if she wanted.

Vic made it his personally mission to make sure whatever Suzie wanted to do she'd have the confidence to do it. And above everything else make sure that his sister didn't start dancing in a G-string instead of a tutu.

Fortunately it was remarkably easy to get a depressed seven year old to smile again. "Hey Suz; what you say, before we head home, we stop and get some ice cream. Any flavor-"

* * *

Vic honestly wasn't sure what happened next. Everything just happening way to fast; and he only remembered bits and pieces. He remembered a truck horn blaring, a pair of bright headlights flashing, and the sound of metal crunching right before everything went black.

His father told him the whole ordeal after he regained consciousness. The truck driver that hit them had apparently been driving for more than twelve hours straight. The only thing keeping him awake was the crap ton of caffeine pills he had taken. Needless to say he wasn't in the best state of mind.

He ran a red light and bashed into Vic's car on the passenger side. A few other cars crashed as well, but Vic and Suzie got the worst of it. Thankfully someone called an ambulance to get as many of the injured to the hospital as soon as possible. Unfortunately even if an ambulance had been there the second the crash happened, it wouldn't have made much difference. Suzie's little body couldn't handle the trauma of the crash and died on impact.

Victor was slightly luckier. He survived the crash and the trip to the hospital; but he was in a coma. Even after surgery, Victor's body was so badly damaged the likelihood of surviving the night was extremely low.

Realizing that he was about to lose the last of his family, Silas decided to do something insane, dangerous, and illegal. Silas insisted that Victor be moved to S.T.A.R. Labs under the pretense of using the advanced medical equipment to make his son as comfortable as possible as they waited for the inevitable. Instead, Silas had convincing his colleagues, Emil Hamilton and T.O. Marrow as well as his intern Sarah Simms, to prepare both his cybernetics experiments and a surgery table. Hamilton performed the majority of the operation while Silas and Marrow made sure the cybernetic enhancements worked properly.

After several hours of surgery, and replacing over seventy percent of his body with cybernetics, Hamilton declared that Victor would pull through. After being told everything; Victor...didn't take it very well. His sister was dead, he was a robotic freak, and because the operation that saved his life was untested and didn't receive government sanction, he had to stay at S.T.A.R. Labs for two months to keep up the pretense that he had a "miraculous recovery" from the first surgery that took place the night of the crash.

And now here he was...Living with a massive secret that could send his dad to jail, possibly for the rest of his life. The cybernetics that couldn't be covered by his clothes had to be covered in a synthetic polymer that resembled human skin. It looked real enough but you could tell the difference if you looked closely.

Just like Vic was now. As he clenched his hand a few times, he could hear the subtle whirl of the hydraulics and motors in his robotic arm and see the unnatural cresses and folds of the polymer. Being a cyborg wasn't nearly as cool as Vic thought it'd be when he was younger. He couldn't really feel anything in his limbs as all four had been partially or completely amputated and replaced. His legs had been completely demolish and were beyond repair; as had his right arm. His left had only been replaced from the elbow down. Most of his internal organs remained intact, damaged but intact. Unfortunately one of his lungs had been punctured and needed to be replaced with an internal respirator. And, just to keep everything running properly, his heart had to be replaced with a high tech pacemaker that had to be recharged every 24 hours to power everything, as well as neural implants in his brain to move his limbs properly.

Part of Vic didn't fell human anymore. _Maybe it's the part that a damn robot._ He thought to himself looking at his reflection in a store window. He sighed and continued down the street. He'd been walking around for a few hours now; he still didn't know where he was going. Fortunately, one of the good things about being part robot is that he didn't get tired easily.

As he absent mindedly wandered through a residential area, the absolute last thing Vic expected was for an apartment building to burst into flames. The explosion came from the fifth or sixth floors, but would undoubtedly spread throughout the building quickly. Victor stared at the flaming building for a moment debating what he should do. It could take the fire department a few minutes to get here, and people could get hurt in that time. Hell they could get hurt even with them here. And with his enhancements he could get at least a few people out before the fire got too bad.

But this wasn't his job; he might make things worse somehow. And there is Superman. He could probably handle this...But what if he's on another planet or doing something with the Justice League?

Then he heard it, people screaming for help within the housing complex. Everything else fell away and Vic ran straight into the burning building. "I hope I know what I'm doing!"

Vic bashed his way into the building as a group of people make their way out to avoid being burned to death. He stopped one of the tenants as he tried to escape, "Do you know how many people are stuck upstairs?"

"Don't know. Don't care. I'm getting the hell out of here!" Selfish, but Vic couldn't blame him.

He pushed his way upstream through the panicked residents until he made it to the flood below where the fire started...only to find the stairs collapsed. Getting up to the next floor wouldn't be too much trouble thanks to his enhancement, but the extra weight of his cybernetics mixed with the poor structural integrity caused by the fire could cause problems.

But Vic had to get up there. How he was going to get everyone else out he still need to figure out. "I'm really starting to regret doing this." Vic jumped towards the wall of the demolished stairwell. When he made contact with the wall, Vic looked at his destination, and in the half-second before gravity took hold of him (thanks to his neural implants) made the necessary calculations to insure he took the proper trajectory to ensure he ended up in a place where his weight and the impact of his landing wouldn't cause the floor to collapse. Vic kicked off the wall and landed exactly where he needed. The floor cracked slightly, but other than that, there were no issues.

Whatever caused the fire, it spread throughout the building quickly. Most of this floor was burning and almost all of the apartment doors were open. The tenants seemed to notice the collapsed stairs and didn't think they could make the drop (And obviously using the elevator in a fire would be really stupid) so they may have gone higher to avoid the flames and wait for either the firefighter or Superman to save them. _Unfortunately_ , Vic thought, _All they have is me right now._

Vic took the time to knock down the closed doors just to make sure no one was home, then made his way to the next floor. There Vic found the tenants either panicking or trying to get their neighbors out of their apartments. The fire had spread to this floor as well, but thankfully not as much as the previous. Vic looked out the window to notice the distinctive red fire trucks surrounding the burning building.

"Hey! Everybody!" The tenants all turn towards the young man in slight surprise and disgust. The heat from the fire had melted some of the synthetic skin covering his cybernetics, making his appearance hard to ignore. "The fire department's here, we just need to get their attention and they'll get you out!" He calls out over the rising sound of crackling fire.

The building's residents murmur to themselves before Vic knocks a wall down. "That should get their attention." And sure enough, a truck drove up to the building and a ladder extended up to the hole. Vic ushered the people to the ladder and helped them down. Before the last people climbed down, Vic stopped him to ask, "How many more floors are in this building?"

"Three, why?"

"Don't worry about it, just get down there." And before he could say anything else, Vic ran towards the stair well. By now most of the building was on fire, but thankfully the firefighters started dowsing the flames. Like the last floor, most of the tenants were freaking out so Vic once again took control of the situation. He could keep smashing down walls like he did last time, so he instead led everyone to the next floor. With only two more floors of people left, if he could get them to the roof maybe the firefighters could rescue them all at once.

This was working pretty well, until they got to the stairs to the top floor. Vic had been leading the ascent up the building, unfortunately the stairs collapsed while he was on them. Vic crawled his way out of the burning rubble, even more of his robotic body being revealed through his torn clothes and fake skin.

A few of the tenants helped drag Vic out of the rubble and got him to his feet. One asked, "What now?"

Vic moved towards the window at the end of the hall, ordering the others to follow him. He smashed a hole in the wall and waved to get another fire truck ladder up to them. Once the ladder was up to them, people started making their way down. However, fire had weakened the building structure enough that the hole Vic knocked in the wall was too much for it and it began to fall apart. Vic pulled the next person to climb down out of the way of a piece of the wall falling down.

Unfortunately the rubble fell on the ladder, snapping it in half and sending the woman climbing down to fall to her death. Fortunately, a red and blue blur swooped down and caught her.

Superman floats in front of Vic and the others holding the woman who fell. "Anyone else need a ride down?" He asked with a warm and comforting smile. There were only a hand full of people left and Superman was able to carry them all down to the street.

Figuring Superman could handle things from here, Vic decided to make himself scarce and bashed through another wall to jump to another build's rooftop. He hopped off the roof into a dark alley and took a minute to catch his breath. He looked himself over and noticed just how messed up he got during the rescue. His clothes had been almost completely burned off. His shirt is in tatters and his jeans might as well be booty shorts with much of them had been burned off. And pretty much every inch of synthetic skin had melted, leaving his robotic part out to be seen by all the world. Vic had to get home before someone saw him.

"That was impressive back there." And someone just saw him.

"Crap..." Vic slowly turns, surprised to see the signature S shield and flowing red cape.

Vic was stunned into silence at seeing Superman gently landing in front of him. "And a relief to be completely honest. Most robots who come to Metropolis just try to wreck things."

"Uh, yeah...Well, I'm not really a robot."

"Yes, I see now." Superman said as his eyes took on a subtle blue tint. "You are mostly organic, and human. So a cyborg."

Vic nodded. "Most of your components look pretty advanced. Who built you?"

Vic scratched the back of his head and looked down. "I uh, can't really tell you."

"You don't know?"

"No, I defiantly know who built me." He said with a sneer.

"So it's to protect someone. I understand." Superman said with a kind tone of voice. I just wanted to thank you. I was caught up with some other business in South America and I couldn't get back here as fast as I wanted. If you hadn't been here, there almost certainly would have been more casualties."

Vic shrugged, "Yeah well...just doing what I can."

"You'd be surprised how many people don't have that kind of mentality. It's good to see more people who do." Superman floated slightly into the air, "Good luck, Cyborg. Maybe we'll meet again." And with that the Man of Tomorrow flew off.

Vic stared at the sky for a few minutes as a grin slowly worked its way onto his face. He just helped Superman. He just saved a bunch of people from a burning building and helped Superman all at the same time. Vic couldn't help a light chuckle escaping his lips as he made his way further into the alleyway. It'll take a while for him to find a way home without people seeing him.

As Victor walked off, Superman land quietly behind the hooded figure that had been spying on the robotic teen. "Well you seem quite interested in that kid. Can I ask why?"

The person turned their head slightly, but kept their face hidden. Then in a distinctly feminine voice said, "I have my reasons." In a puff of black smoke the hooded girl disappeared. Superman looked around quickly. She was just gone. "Magic..." He muttered to himself. He flew back into the night sky deep in thought. Something was happening; he'd have to keep his eyes open.

* * *

Just like Starfire, I always planned to bring Cyborg into this story. He's a founding member of the New Teen Titans, and kinda responsible for their most iconic head quarters, Titans Tower. I had the idea of changing Vic's football career more than a little. Instead of being a football star whose career was derailed by the accident that made him Cyborg, he is a failed athlete who finds purpose after the accident.

I loved everything I wrote in this story right up until the fire. I realized while I was writing it that something was off about it. It wasn't until I was almost done that I realized that the fire didn't work thematically. It was just some big crisis to show Vic as a potential hero, but I feel this wasn't the RIGHT crisis. I wanted to try and re-write the scene, but I realized that it had been more than a month since the last chapter, and I didn't really have a better idea, so I just said "F%#k it, I just want to get this out."

Also the end scene with Superman is really lazy, see excuse above.

Up next: The Cloak


	4. The Cloak (Part 1)

Holy shit! It's been, what, five months since I updated this story? I didn't mean to take this long. I had the plan of each chapter coming out every two to three weeks. At the most a little over a month at a time. But this chapter was so long and I had so much other stuff going on I didn't have much time to work on it.

And when I say things were getting long, I mean it. This isn't the full story! I had to break it up into two parts. But lets just get on with the story, yea?

* * *

The Cloak (Part 1)

Wandering around wasn't getting her anywhere. It's been three days and she's still just aimlessly walking around this one city. She didn't even know the city's name. Wow she was bad at this whole "Invasion" thing.

The ship with her White Martian brethren was even now hiding behind Earth's moon to avoid detection. They were waiting for her and the others in her scouting party to provide enough information on the planet to make their eventual attack go as smoothly as possible. Their orders were simple: place themselves in positions of power and influence, find weaknesses in the planet's governmental infrastructure, discover, and if possible eliminate, any major threats to the invasion fleet. M'gann M'orzz had done none of those things so far.

To be fair, it has only been three days. The problem was she had no idea how to complete any of her objectives. She didn't even know why she was on this mission. She didn't even know why she was part of this invasion at all! She should have just stayed on Vega II. Her drill commander constantly said she was the single worst soldier he'd ever attempted to train. She was constantly ridiculed by her comrades for any number of reasons. She was too weak, wasn't ruthless enough, never did what she was told.

But the White Martians were an almost wholly militaristic society. If M'gann wasn't a soldier, she might as well not be a citizen of her own planet. Even being a terrible soldier was preferable to not being one at all.

So here she was: Trying to invade a planet she had nothing against, working for commanding officers who couldn't stand her, and whom she didn't particularly like herself; all so her life would suck just a little less. M'gann genuinely hated her life.

Fortunately for the scouts, White Martians shared their Green cousins' shape-shifting abilities, allowing them to hide in plain sight to observe the people they intend to conquer. When M'gann was deployed into the city, she turned into the first thing she saw, a mangy stray cat. In the three days she's been on Earth, M'gann's shifted into a dog, a bird, a squirrel, and back into a cat, which she was now.

While M'gann hadn't learned much about how to bring the Earthlings to their knees, she had learned one important thing: Earth is a lot better than home. She used her telepathic abilities to read the minds of several humans she's seen, and from what she could tell human society wasn't as violence driven as the White Martians. There were plenty of humans with violent thoughts, but for the most part these people seem much more care free than M'gann's fellow Martians. Part of her wished she didn't have to help destroy these people...But this is how things had to be. M'gann really hated her life.

Of course none of that took away from the simple fact that M'gann was lost. No seriously, she was really lost. She'd never been in this part of the city before. Thanks to her telepathy, M'gann had quickly learned to understand human language. She could read the street signs, but none of them look familiar.

The shape-shifter walked down the sidewalk trying to figure out where she was when something caught her eye. It was a monitor in the window of a store, what it displayed was unlike anything M'gann had ever seen. There were bright colors, the people on screen wore odd looking clothing and seemed to be engaged in some kind of battle; except they were flying through the air, wielding giant weapons, and all manner of other strange things happening. This must have been some form of Earth entertainment. It had peaked her interest, and learning about how humans entertained themselves could be helpful to the invasion. She wasn't completely sure how, but there must be some way. And M'gann will figure out how.

M'gann slipped into the store along with another human to find out more about the video she'd just seen. However the clerk picked her up and threw her out the door. Apparently she wasn't going to get any new information as a cat.

She walked into an alleyway near the store to change form. Fortunately she spotted a magazine lying on the ground and decided to take on the form of the model on the open page. In a matter of seconds M'gann had the appearance of a black girl with curly brown hair, wearing a halter top and short-shorts. She was bare foot, but it hardly bothered her.

This was the first time M'gann had taken on the form of a human and it took her a few minutes to get used to how the human body was constructed. She had been so used to four legged beings, having only two again was a bit of an adjustment.

A little wobbly, the shifter walked into the store and over to the clerk. She cleared her throat to get his attention. He looked up from the comic book he was reading; glaring at her like he was annoyed by the interruption. _Okay_ , She thought, _First time talking to a human. Don't mess up._

"Greetings fellow human!" M'gann started, "I would like to inquire about the video displayed in your store's window." _Nailed it._ M'gann thought, a wide grin on her face.

The clerk just stared at her for a second, "Uh, right. Well, that would be a series called, uh..." He looks M'gann over a bit more critically than necessary before continuing, "It basically translates to 'Mighty Star Princess'. It's the hottest thing out of Japan."

M'gann's eyes flash green for a second as she quickly reads the clerk's mind. "Japan, a string of archipelagoes on the Eastern coast of the Asian continent."

"Thank you Miss Encyclopedia. Look, why don't start off with something else as your first anime. Which I'm pretty sure this is." He said in a very condescending voice. The clerk turn to the wall of DVDs behind him, picked one out, and placed it on the counter in front of M'gann. "I think this is more your speed."

The alien girl examined the box in front of her. It featured four cute looking human girls with large eyes and wearing what appeared to be some kind of uniforms. The four girls were sitting on a blanket in the middle of a grassy field looking into the camera. Above the girls were large characters M'gann didn't recognize or understand. Assuming that the characters were Japanese and the clerk would know what they mean, she did another quick scan of his mind to discover the title of the video is "Wondrous Summer in the Sun". She also noticed a number of images in the man's mind of the four girls on the box having sex with each other.

Not sure if the images would be in this video or if the clerk had seen them somewhere else, she decided to be safe and put the box down on the counter. "Um, thank you, but I think I'd like Mighty Star Princess."

The clerk sighed while rolling his eyes at the disguised girl. He took a copy the M'gann's requested video off the shelf behind him and placed it in front of her. She gingerly picked the box and smiled at the art on the front. She saw the female warrior from the video with a large curved sword slung over her shoulder. This must have been the eponymous Star Princess. Flanking the Star Princess was a number of other people, not all of them human, or at least not completely human. Some she remembered from the video earlier, some she didn't. The title of the video also adorned the top of the box, except this time it was in English.

"That'll be $25.37." The clerk said, bringing M'gann out of her appreciation of the box art.

The Martian girl looked at him in confusion, "25.37?" Then it dawned on her, "Oh currency. You want currency. Of course you do..." How could M'gann have forgotten something so basic? She didn't have anything to pay for the video. No Earth currency or something to barter with like back home. It's just a good thing she didn't try this with something more important. She really was the worst invader ever.

With little other options, M'gann reached into the clerk's mind and implanted one thought "I just paid you."

Blinking quickly, the clerk's expression returned to his original apathetic state as he handed M'gann the box, "Thanks for your business or whatever."

M'gann gave him a wry smile. It didn't feel right using her telepathy to steal like this. Even if her drill sergeant said it was her best weapon against the weak minded peoples she would be trying to conquer.

M'gann turned to leave, but stopped after glancing at the window display. That's when she realized she'd need something to watch this on. The shifter looked back to the clerk who had resumed reading his book. "Um, excuse me...?"

The clerk slammed the book closed, giving an exaggerated sigh; not even trying to hide his annoyance. "What now?"

M'gann took a step back in fear, before remembering that she could render this guy into a drooling vegetable with the slightest thought...Okay she'd never do something like that. But at the very least she shouldn't be afraid of him. "Uh, um...D-do you know where I can purchase a-a video monitor like that?" She timidly said, pointing at the display.

"You mean a TV?" She silently nodded, a slight blush adorning her disguised face. She really needs to learn what more stuff is called on this planet. The clerk rolled his eyes again, "I don't know, I think there's a BestBuy or something on Hemingway. It's about two or three blocks that way." He said pointing in the general direction of the store.

Despite the vagueness of the directions, M'gann was able to find the store. It was much larger than the one she had just been in with many more other people wandering around looking for whatever item they intended to purchase. She looked around herself for some time to examine the different technologies that Earth possessed. This actually could help her mission; if she could figure out how advanced Earth's technology is, it will give her some clue about conquering them...Why did just _thinking_ that seem wrong?

Walking around the store also gave her the opportunity to observe the other shoppers, or more specifically, what they looked like. While making her way to this store, M'gann noticed a number of people on the street looking at and whispering about her. She assumed it was because of the form she had taken, considering it came from an Earth periodical, it was possible that the human she now looked like is well-know. Attracting attention is the last thing the invader wanted this early in her mission, so she decided to change her appearance once more. But she'd be clever about it; for once. As she wandered around the store, M'gann would pick out a specific attribute of a human she'd seen and, if she liked it, would alter her appearance to match it. Occasionally checking a reflective surface to make sure everything was in proportion.

By the time she finally found the area where the TVs were sold, M'gann had her appearance set: She was 5'4", had a slim build, red hair, large, almond-shaped green eyes, olive skin, and freckles. The freckles were a last minute thing when she saw a cute little girl with them. Thanks to the scan of the last store clerk, she had seen images of the peoples of the nation Japan. After seeing a young woman with similar features, M'gann decided to gear her appearance to match the people of that region.

While wandering through the aisles, a man in a blue shirt walked up to and greeted her, "Hello there. May I help you with anything, miss?"

M'gann was startled for a moment, then turned and answered, "O-oh, yes! I would like to request you aid in finding me an acceptable video monitor to purchase." M'gann said with another brilliant smile.

"Did...you mean a TV?" The man, most likely an employee of the store, asked slightly confused. M'gann just nodded, no longer trusting her ability to speak. _Maybe I'm not getting the hang of this._

"Well then, let see what we have to offer." He said, gesturing for her to follow him. The sales person who helped her seemed far friendlier than the man she got the video from. He was patient with her, didn't mention or really seem to mind when she said something odd.

When M'gann had a set she was happy with (A 30' flat screen with a built in DVD and Blu-ray) he asked her another question she hadn't thought of, "Now, would you like this taken to your car, or perhaps you'd like it delivered directly to your home?"

Her home. That's right; she had the video, something to watch it on, but not someWHERE to watch it. She had spent the last three days sleeping on the streets; she never bothered to find a place to live. How could she keep forgetting sure basic thing? Forget being a bad invader, M'gann was just worthless in general.

"O-oh! Yes! My-my home. That's where you should send it." She said, beginning to sweat.

"Alright," The sales person said, pulling out a note pad and pen, "Just give us your address and we should have it delivered to you by the end of the day."

M'gann was officially stuck. She didn't know this city well enough to give an address to anywhere. She still didn't even know what the city's name was. She did a quick widespread scan of a radius of ten feet to find a place she could say she lived. The scan was a bit to sudden with the number of minds she went through at once. The amount of information overwhelmed her senses for a moment causing her to double over, clutching her head.

The sales person helped steady her as the sudden headache subsided. "Are you alright, miss?"

Taking a deep breath to calm her mind, she said to him, "Yes, yes. I'm alright. Thank you." She had to remember to never do something like that again. But it did pay off, as she was able to glean the location of an apartment building only a few blocks away. She gave the sales person the address and left, again making him think she had paid for the TV, and made her way to the building she identified as her home.

While walking, M'gann came to the very obvious decision to find a place to live. She hadn't minded sleeping on the street, but she had been a small animal at the time. She could make a bed for herself out of various items she found. But if she was going to live as a human (Which clearly she needed to if she wanted to complete her mission...Even if she really DIDN'T want to complete her mission) she need some place to rest her head at night.

The building seemed nice enough. Well-constructed, the grounds around it were tended with beautiful looking flowers, about eight floors height. M'gann could see herself living here. She walked into the lobby and immediately realized how different living quarters on Earth were from Vega II. Back home everything was sterile and same-y. White walls, white floors, no decoration or extraneous details. Everything was built purely for practical purposes. That wasn't the case for Earth.

The lobby had off green stripped wallpaper, alternating between a lighter and darker shade of green, two burgundy couches and side tables with lamps next to them, as well as landscape paintings on either side of the room. Had M'gann been an Earth native, she'd probably think it was just about the tackiest room she'd have the dishonor to see. But after growing up in the oppressive, creatively stifling White Martian society it seemed like the most amazing thing in the universe. "People live here?" She said in wide-eyed awe.

"I know, it's a dump right?" A raspy, feminine voice called out behind her. M'gann turned around to see an older woman holding shopping bags walking through the door. Her hair was a dull blonde tied into a messy bun, and there were wrinkles all over her face. She looked and sounded like she had seen better days; she let her body go and had one of those smoking sticks M'gann had seen other humans inhaling hung from her mouth. _I think they're called...cigarettes? Maybe?_

"But hey," She took the cigarette out and blew smoke into the air, "its home." She waddles over to M'gann and looks her over.

"Never seen you before. You a new tenet or somethin'?"

"Um, well...I-I'd like to be. Who would I speak to about finding a room?"

The woman takes a drag and pointed at the first door to the right, a sign reading "1A" nailed to it, "The landlord's in that room there. You want in; ya gotta talk to that shmuck." The woman looked at M'gann again before asking, "What's ya name, sweetheart?"

"Oh, u-um. M-M'gann."

"Megan, huh? Pretty name for a pretty girl. Man, if only I was twenty years younger. I'd show you the time a' your life." She cackled softly, erupting into a fit of coughing as she waddled away.

M'gann followed her with her eyes, more than a little confused, "E-excuse me?"

"Nothin', nothin'. Just an old dyke tryin' ta make herself feel a bit more alive. Don't mind me." She walked to an elevator and waited for its arrival. "The name's Lucy, by the way. Hope ya make it in Megan." She said before entering the small compartment.

M'gann stood in the lobby for a moment more staring at the elevator after Lucy entered. A soft smile slowly forming on her face. _I...I think I just made a friend._ She got her name wrong, smelled like a target range after practice, and M'gann was pretty sure she just hit on her; but she was also the first being to be genuinely kind to her. Sure, the man who sold her the TV was nice, but M'gann is pretty sure it was his job to be.

Lucy, on the other hand, just started talking to her for no real reason. She was friendly to her without having to be. She even said she'd like for M'gann to live here. Now she just needed to get in.

She walked over to the door Lucy said belonged to the landlord and knocked on it. A moment later a balding man in a wife beater and dark brown slacks opened the door. Again smiling brightly (People seem to react positively to this) M'gann greeted the man, "Hello, you must be the lord of the land, Mr. Shmuck."

The landlord stared at her for a moment before asking, "I'm sorry, what did you just call me?"

M'gann's smile became more strained as she realized that Lucy hadn't called the landlord by his name. By the look on the man's face, it seemed like she was insulting him. Knowing this, M'gann decided to try again, "Hello...I would like to know if you have a room available. S-sir." _I guess I stink at being an invader AND a human._

Still somewhat annoyed, the landlord none the less opened the door wider for M'gann to enter his apartment. "What's your name, darlin'?"

"M'gann M'orzz." She absent mindedly answered while overlooking the room. The apartment was clean, for the most part. One could easily navigate their way through the dwelling if need be, but there were stacks of newspapers in one corner and assorted bits of junk and chachkies just as tacky as the lobby scatter here and there. It was fairly obvious that the landlord had decorated the interior of the building himself.

And just like the lobby, M'gann was immediately enamored with the apartment. She had never seen someone's personal living space so...Personalized. "So I take it you met Lucy already?" The landlord asked as M'gann tentatively examined the room.

"Yes, I did." She answered while looking at a rubber fish mounted on a plastic piece of wood. There was also a button on the plastic wood.

"Well you shouldn't pay too much attention to the cranky old bat. She just likes tryin' to get a rise outta me."

"She said something like that herself, actually." Curiosity got the best of her and she pressed the button on the plastic base, causing the fish to start singing. At first shocked by this, M'gann erupted into a giggle fit for a fair few seconds.

"That's really funny. I like your home, Mr. Sh-Sir. M-Mr. Sir." She cleared her throat quickly "A-are all the apartment like this one?"

The landlord looked stunned for a moment before asking, "Okay, first: The name's Manfred Horowitz, but everyone calls me Manny. Second: You really like the way this place looks?"

"Of course I do! Why do you ask?"

Manny looked around for a second, then a smug expression crossed his face, "Yeah, this is a pretty nice place, isn't it?"

"So...um...About the room?"

"What? Oh yeah, yeah." Manny snapped out of his smug reserves and leads her into his office (Kitchen) and sits her down at a flimsy table. "Alright, now why do you wanna live here?"

 _I need a place to stay while I try to conquer your planet._ "I'm just starting out on my own and this place seems really nice."

Manny nodded his head, before asking another question, "Well, how'd you hear about the place?"

 _I read someone's mind so I could buy a TV._ "I just kinda walked in. I wasn't even sure if you had a room available. But I figured 'Why not try'."

"Alright. Well, I'm gonna need a picture ID, social-security card, and a bank statement to see how you credit stakes up." Manny freezes the instant he stops talking.

"Ugh, it's always something!" All she wanted to do is watch a video! How hard could that be? But this one seemingly simple task reveal just how woefully unprepared she was for this mission. Nothing she realized she need today she had thought of before her scouting mission started. For a moment M'gann wondered what would happen if she never saw the Mighty Star Princess video. How long would she have wandered the streets without a clue of what to do next?

But the soul crushing depression that thought brought on would have to wait until she actually got the apartment.

Using her telepathy, M'gann kept Manny frozen in place as she went through his apartment to find three pieces of blank paper. Once she found paper of the right dimensions, she sat down in front of Manny once again and unfrozen him. "Now I don't suppose you have any of that, do you?" He said as if he hadn't just lost ten minutes of his life.

"I-I do, a-actually." M'gann said, handing him the black papers.

Manny took the papers from her and looked them over. "Alright, Megan Mizaki. Hey, I knew a guy named Mizaki when I was stationed in Japan during the seventies. So, yer eighteen. Sounds about right. Decent credit score." While anyone else looking at the papers would see black sheets of white, thanks to M'gann's powers Manny saw exactly what he considered the best information for a new tenant. "All I need to know for sure is if you can pay rent: $350 a month, utilities included."

M'gann wasn't completely sure what "Utilities" were, but she knew for sure that she couldn't pay for them if she did. Still, she needed a place to live. And there was a way she could pay for rent without having to pay for it. "Yes, I can pay." She said with an uneasy look on her face. Yes using her powers to get what she wanted was the easiest option; it didn't keep her from feeling bad about.

 _I suppose if anyone back home knew I thought like that, it'd just be another thing they'd have to ridicule me for._

"Alright then," Manny said, getting up and handing the blank papers back to M'gann. "Follow me. I take ya up to your new room."

M'gann stood up excited, "You mean I got in!?"

Manny smiled, "As long as ya can and you're not a druggy or serial killer, then yea, you're in." Manny lead M'gann out the apartment and to the elevators. They got out on the fourth floor and he led her to a door with D5 nailed to it. "Here we go, Megan."

He opened the door to show M'gann her new home. It had the same architecture as Manny's room, but lacked the furniture and overall aesthetic. The room was completely bare, but still had more warmth than her old quarters back on Vega II.

"I know it ain't much, but..."

"I love it." M'gann interrupted him. She turned to him with a huge smile on her face, "I'll take it!"

Manny nodded at the disguised girl's enthusiasm, "Great. And I'll need you first month's rent by the end of the day."

M'gann's smile faded quickly remembering the only way she could pay for rent. The alien girl reached into her landlord's mind and planted the idea that she already paid him. Of course he believed it and left M'gann to get acquainted to her new home. The apartment had five rooms in total. The main living room, a kitchen the same size as Manny's (Which wasn't all that big to be honest), a bathroom with a shower but no bathtub, and two rooms in the back she figure at least one of would serve as her bedroom.

After a few minutes of getting used to her new apartment, M'gann returned to the lobby to await the arrival of the TV she bought, _Stole,_ earlier. She left the Star Princess video in her apartment, the first time she put it down since she got it.

She waited outside for about an hour or so. The weather was nice and cool, so she didn't really mind the wait. It also gave her the opportunity to people watch, occasionally reading a passerby's mind to get a better handle on how Earth works. Every new mind she scanned revealed some new aspect of Earth culture. Some good, some not so good. But all of it made her hope that her invasion failed. Even if it meant she was either captured or killed (By the humans or her own White Martian comrades, honestly either was a possibility) she would accept it if it meant these people would be able to continue living their lives.

The truck with M'gann's TV eventually arrived and she led the movers up to her apartment. They helped her set everything up and left with kind parting words. And finally, after several hours, a lot of new information, and the epiphany that she couldn't and wouldn't go through with her mission; M'gann was able to watch the video that started this whole thing. She popped the first of three disks into the TV, waded though some previews, and pressed play on the "Play all" option on the DVD menu.

Four hours later, M'gann had watched all three disks, and all thirteen episodes of _Mighty Star Princess._ As the final credits rolled, M'gann (Having unconsciously shape-sifted into the main heroine) could only say one thing, "That...was...AMAZING..."

It was a little past nightfall as M'gann walked back to her apartment with two bags full of Anime DVDs in each hand. After finishing _Mighty Star Princess,_ M'gann had gone back to the store she bought it from and asked for any similar videos they had. Again she used her telepathy to "pay" for the DVDs, and she sincerely hoped that the clerk wouldn't get fired for basically giving away more than a dozen DVDs for free. (She'd find out later that he was)

As she walked, one of the bags ripped open, spilling its content all over the side walk. She bent down to pick it up; when a young man stooped down to help her. He didn't say anything as he gathered the six DVDs up and handed them her, "Here you go!" He said with a wide grin. He was rather good looking for a human; he had messy red hair, a shade or two off from her own, freckles, again like her own, and shining green eyes. If it wasn't for the fact she looked Japanese, people would probably think they were related.

"Um, thank you." She said while putting the fallen DVDs into her other bag.

The boy notices this and asked, "Aren't you afraid the same thing is gonna happen to that bag?"

"O-oh, I wouldn't worry." _Mostly because I'm holding it up with a telekinetic force field._

The boy just shrugged, "Alright then. So, where you headed?"

"Just, home. I just got a new apartment a few blocks away. Though it's kinda barebones. Pretty much the only thing I have is a TV at the moment." She explained with a bit of embarrassment.

The boy seemed to be contemplating this for a moment before saying, "So that probably means you don't have any food in your place, right?"

Yet another realization dawned on her, she was starving, "Uh, no; I don't. And I haven't eaten all day either." As if on cue, she stomach started to growl.

The boy chuckled softly, "Well, why don't go somewhere to eat? My treat."

M'gann smiled and nodded. "Alright."

"Great, the names Wally, by the way. Wally West." He held his hand out.

M'gann took it, about to give him her name, then remembered how both Lucy and Manny got her name wrong. She decided to just use the name Manny saw on the blank paper he thought was her ID. "Megan Mizaki."

Wally led Megan to a building she had seen around the city a few times, a cheap fast food place called "Burger Planet". Megan insisted that Wally order for both of them, since she's obviously never eaten at a place like this and wasn't sure what to get.

"What were your parents like, major health nuts or something?" Wally asked after hearing this.

"Uhhhhh..." On Vega II, everyone ate pretty much the same thing : Nutrient pellets. They were utterly tasteless, but filling and provided all the nutrition that the White Martians needed to sustain themselves. There were variants, but only in what nutrients were provided. Soldiers like her were given pellets that fostered strong minds and bodies. She had plenty stashed away...but she couldn't remember where.

"...Yeah...You-you could say that." Their food was presented to them in only a few minutes and the two found a small table to share.

Wally had ordered a lot compared to what he got for Megan, and started scarfing it down the second they were settled. She looked down at the tray that held the food Wally had ordered for her. A simple cheeseburger and fries combo with a drink. She picked up one of the fries and scrutinized it a bit. It was warm and greasy, coated in salts and probably loaded with Trans fats. She couldn't imagine this being terribly healthy for humans, let alone her own Martian physiology. It did smell good though.

"Well..." the ravenous ginger across from her, his mouth stuffed with food, asked, "Ya gonna eat that?"

The act was both disgusting and humorous, and Megan couldn't help but smile a little. Looking back at the morsel of food in her hands, she eventually shrugged and popped the fry in her mouth. And suddenly fireworks exploded behind her eyes and her mind became a blur, trying its damnedest to comprehend what her mouth was currently experiencing. After a lifetime of bland capsules, to know what taste was truly like nearly overwhelmed her senses.

After coming down from her food high, Megan began devouring the rest of her fries. Once done with hers, she spotted a helping on Wally's tray, "Mind if I have these?" And grabbed them before he could answer.

Wally just stared at her through all this, cheeks puffing out due to the food still stuffed in them. He swallowed everything and asked, "Man, you really like fries, huh?"

Megan nodded her head excitedly having finished Wally's fries and reaching for another bunch he had. "They're delicious!"

Wally laughed lightly at the strange girl. "If you like 'em like that; try a little ketchup." Said while opening a ketchup packet and pouring it on Megan's tray. She eagerly dipped two fries at a time in the red sauce and tasted the new combination. She closed her eyes and moaned in euphoric satisfaction. "You like?" He asked.

"I like."

Wally encouraged Megan to try the burger and soda as well. She liked them, but seemed to have a definite fondness for the salty yellow sticks. Wally agreed to split his large order between them as they talked a bit more. Wally mentioned he was a student at Central State College, but he still lives with his parents. He also talked about helping his forensic scientist uncle from time to time, most likely trying to impress Megan with his intelligence.

Megan kept talk about herself to a minimum, only saying she was in Central City (Wally had been helpful enough to finally tell her what the city was called) to study but didn't go into detail about what she was studying or where. She didn't talk about her family, except that they were not very supportive of her and she was glad to be away from them.

After finishing off Wally's tray, Megan leaned back in her seat with a satisfied sigh. "That was the best meal I've ever had."

"That's both hilarious and sad. But I suppose dining with a shining example of rugged handsomeness is enough to enhance any meal."

Megan gave a wry smile, "No it was defiantly the fries." Megan breathed a sigh of relief when Wally started laughing, afraid he would be insulted by her comment. She was still getting used to interacting with humans, but they seem far more willing to have fun with each other than the White Martians were. Talking to Wally, or even Lucy or Manny, seemed much easier than talking to her own relatives.

"Well I'd buy you more, but I should really start spending my money a bit more responsibly. Not that I can really regret spending a few bucks on a pretty girl." The ginger said with a sly smirk.

Megan smiled softly and her cheeks heated up a bit. "You know, you're the second person to hit on me today."

"Like I said, you're cute. What guy wouldn't want to hang out with you?"

"Actually the first person was a woman who looked to be in her early fifties." While Wally's eyebrows shot up at this bit of news, Megan began thinking about what he said about managing his money properly. She didn't have any Earth currency, and it wasn't like she could keep manipulating people's minds to give her free stuff...Well okay she probably could and get away with it; she just didn't want to. It made her feel bad. So that only meant one thing: "I need to find employment."

"You don't have a job?" Wally asked confused. Megan shook her head. "Then how'd you get the DVDs or your apartment?"

"Uh...I have a small allowance from my family. But it just won't last very long. I should find some place to work."

"How about here?" Wally said with a shrug. "I saw a help wanted sign on the way in. And clearly you like the food here."

Megan thought about it for a second before accepting Wally's proposal. They walk up to the counter and ask to see the manager for a job interview. Wally helps Megan fill out an application, and the manager takes her in the back to talk to her. The interview is quick and not that invasive. Using the same trick she used on Manny, Megan gave him any information he needed on her. After about twenty minutes Megan came out as an employee of Burger Planet.

Megan and Wally left the restaurant, with the orders that Megan return the next day at 9:00am. "I want to thank you, Wally. It might seem strange to hear, but you're my first friend. I mean, we are friends, right?"

Wally sighed, as if disappointed by something, but then smiled, "Yeah, we're friends. I'd ask for your phone number, but you said you didn't have a phone yet while we were filling out that application." _Add that to the list of things I need to be human I guess._ "So why don't I stop by after class to see how you're doing?"

Megan nodded, "Yeah, and maybe you can come over to my place. I don't think I'll be able to get through all of these in one night," She said holding the bag full of anime, "So we'd have something to do."

"Yeah, it's a date." they went their separate ways, but M'gann could have sworn she heard Wally trumphantly say, "I'm still in there!" a few feet away. She shrugged it off and made her way home, wondering what life on Earth had in store for her next.

* * *

So normally here is when I'd talk about why I made M'gann a Japanese Otaku/White Martian invader. But since this isn't the full story, I'll hold off on explaining myself until I finish the next part. I'm almost done, shouldn't take more than a week or so.

But while I'm here I'd like to ask if anyone is willing to Beta for me? I had a Beta for a while, unfortunately I don't think she's been on the site for some time.


	5. The Cloak (Part 2)

Never underestimate your work load. It's been more than a month since the last chapter. Remember when I said it'd only take a week to finish? Well, I was fucken wrong!

* * *

The Cloak: Part 2

M'gann woke up to the sound of Hatsune Miku's synthetic singing voice next to her bed, groaning as she shuts the voice off. As much as she liked the character, M'gann regretted buying the singing alarm clock. It started getting annoying after a while.

She got out of bed, stretched her white clawed arms in the air while yawning, her sharp teeth on display for no one to see. The perks of living alone. After using her tail to casually fix her bed sheets, M'gann walked to the bathroom. M'gann scratched her bald head while her gray pupil less eyes tried to focus on her own reflection. Looking over her true White Martian form, she felt pleased with herself. Like her Green cousins, M'gann was very tall and rather lanky in appearance; though in a muscular way. She was in top physical condition thanks to her soldier training, after all.

The White Martian's more savage nature in comparison to their green cousins was in part due to the Whites developing into a more carnivorous race; which is somewhat evident in M'gann's three clawed hands and two clawed feet. The Whites had apparently been quadrupedal hunters at one point in their history, the tail came in handy for that, one would assume.

After scrutinizing her true form, she changed into her Japanese alter ego, Megan Mizaki. "Cute. But nothing beats the original." For all her complaints about home, M'gann didn't really hate being a White Martian. She hated the White Martian society that left her alienated, friendless, and alone for most of her life; but her actual species she didn't mind.

After showering, Megan changed into her Burger Planet uniform and left her apartment. It's been almost a year since M'gann arrived on Earth, and it's been the happiest year of her life. It was still a bit rocky at first, especially before she obtained most of the standard documentation required for her to live and work in this country. But she had managed to carve out a life for herself.

She stayed at Burger Planet, obviously. It was a good job and she took pride in doing it. All of Megan's co-workers seemed to like her. All the free fries that she could sneak during her shifts didn't exactly hurt either. And beyond that, the pay was pretty decent. She wasn't exactly wealthy, but it was enough for her to live comfortably.

Thanks to rent-to-own places, garage sales, and flea markets M'gann was able to furnish her apartment to her liking, it wasn't as nice as Manny's place, but she liked it. She remained fascinated with anime, but also got into things like video games, sci-fi movies and TV shows (Even if they tended to get things wrong about space travel) and other "nerdy" things as Wally called them. She had since learned the term "Otaku" and declared herself as such to Wally on numerous occasions.

And yes, she and Wally stayed friends throughout the year. While Wally's initial flirtatious behavior was fairly apparent when they first met, M'gann didn't think much of it. Fortunately one of the benefits of having a having a media centric lifestyle, like that of an otaku, Megan quickly became very genre savvy, and was able to spot the "Love-sick Best Friend" trope a mile away.

Not wanting her life to become a romantic comedy, Megan confronted Wally on his feeling for her and made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that they weren't gonna happen. Wally acted petulant and sulky for a few days (Weeks actually) but he did eventually came around. Megan knew that it was risking her friendship with her first real, official friend; but she also knew it would have been a bigger risk to just let Wally continue thinking he had a chance with her. Eventually, the whole thing blew over and the two became closer friends.

After work was nothing special. Megan usually headed straight home after her shift, unless she decided to spend an hour or two at Wally's. Megan got to know a few of her neighbors in the year since she moved into her apartment but generally kept to herself. Lucy was the only person she made a connection with outside of passing pleasantries. Megan and Lucy would often talk about whatever's going on in each other's live, with Lucy often giving Megan advice on certain problems the younger woman is facing. (Even though M'gann is actually a few decades older than Lucy) Lucy was actually the one to encourage Megan to confront Wally about his feelings for her.

Once in the solitude of her apartment, depending on how her day went, she'd either be so tired she'd revert to her true Martian form as soon as the door closed, or she'd stay as Megan for a while longer. She'd make she self a plate of fries, (She had her fridge stuffed with the friggin' things) and sit down to watch the latest episode of whatever TV show she was currently obsessed with.

For an alien invader trying to learn the secrets of the people she intends to conquer, M'gann had a really ordinary Earth life. And she loved every second of it.

One morning, M'gann had just shifted into her human disguise as she made breakfast; one of her favorite K-Pop bands playing in the background. She was reading the morning paper when an article caught her attention. "Superman assists in dismantling of nuclear arms!"

While Megan hadn't learned much about Earth's defenses, one thing she knew about for sure was the Justice League of America. Mostly because everyone knew about the Justice League. They are considered the greatest defenders of the planet, and M'gann began to hope that her fellow White Martians' invasion plans would fail because of them.

Unfortunately she seemed to underestimate her people's ingenuity. During the last year, M'gann noticed certain changes in the way Earth's governments operated. Defensive measures and policies were lessened or thrown out altogether; political figures disappeared for days or months at a time only to return sometime later with entirely different policies and agendas. And worst of all, some JLA members were backing these changes. Not officially since the League apparently needed to remain neutral in political matter. However, the article about Superman, a major figure in the League, aiding one such policy is proof some of them support these changes.

This wouldn't be such a bad thing, if M'gann wasn't sure the ones behind these changes were the White Martians.

Her former comrades had been very effective in their infiltration missions apparently. They had wormed their way into most of the world super powers and held a lot of political power where it matter. She wasn't sure, but it was possible the leader of at least one major country had been replaced by a Martian shifter.

M'gann wasn't sure what she should do. The Justice League fought off alien invasions for a living, but they seem to falling for the White Martian's lies. Could she really just sit back, let things play out and have faith the Earth's heroes will figure things out in time? Maybe she should try contacting them? But she's just some random girl, would they believe her? She could reveal herself as a White Martian, but that might just make her seem more suspicious.

And besides that they have a Green Martian on their team. There's no way he'd listen to her after the war between the two races. It's more likely he'd take her head off before she got say anything.

"What do I do?" She sighed, setting the paper down. She couldn't stand up to her former comrades by herself, she couldn't warn anyone without revealing who she is; all M'gann could do is wait and pray for her people to fail.

A few days later, Megan was working her usual shift like she wasn't fully aware that an alien invasion she was a part of is nearing its completion. Still, she had a job to do. Orders to take, burgers to grill, all that. A new costumer steps up to the counter and Megan gives the standard greeting she could recite in her sleep by now, "Hello! Welcome to Burger Planet! May I interest you in our out of this world Angus Combo meal?"

Megan's usually bright smile dimmed slightly when the customer, a young man that looked utterly ordinary (Slightly pale skin, short brown hair, black tee-shirt, blue jeans) gave her an unsettling smirk. "I'd actually like something a little different." _Like a few answers, M'gann._

M'gann's eyes widened when she heard the voice in her head. The young man was telepathic. More importantly, he was a White Martian. _I...Who...?_ Focusing her mind for a second, M'gann was able to see past the young man's disguise. _At'ton? Is that you?_

 _So you do remember your friends, M'gann._ He looked at her with an angry, sadistic glint in her eyes that made M'gann take a step back. _Outside, five minutes._ "Y'know," He said, talking out loud once again, "I think I should head somewhere else. Just doesn't seem like the right place for me."

As At'ton walked out the door, M'gann couldn't do anything but stare at him with well-deserved fear in her eyes. "Megan?" One of Megan's co-workers, a plump girl with short brown hair named Elle snapped her out of her panic attack. "Are you alright? Who was that guy?"

Megan was about to answer when a rude costumer yelled. "Hey! What's the hold up!? I wanna order already!"

"I'm sorry, sir. Someone will be with you in a moment. Excuse me..."

"Megan..."

"I'm fine, Elle. I'm just taking my break." Megan said walking into the kitchens to get someone to take her place at the register.

She walked out into the alley in back of the restaurant and waited a few minutes until At'ton phased through the ground. M'gann took a few steps away from him when he solidified. At'ton smiled at her, an evil glint in his eye. _What's wrong, M'gann? You seem scared. And I thought we were friends._

 _You almost blew my head off during basic training._ She mentally shot back, trying to hide how scared she was. Everyone ridiculed her because she was seen as weak, but At'ton seemed to take a unique sense of sadistic joy out of tormenting her. Nearly shooting her in the head was the only the time he almost killed her, but he caused more injuries to her than anything else before, during, or after training.

 _Come now. We had some fun back home, didn't we?_ At'ton said as he began circling her like a shark ready to rip her to pieces. _Like that time I broke one of your arms during that sparing match? Or that great prank I played on you the day before our graduation; when I shifted into a Vakorian Serpent, hid in your foot locker and bite you when you opened it. You still got the scar?_ M'gann subconsciously moved a hand to her left shoulder, while a sick grin found itself on At'ton's face.

 _What do you want, At'ton?_ M'gann wanted him to just leave her alone. If the White Martians wanted her dead for deserting her mission, fine, but sending At'ton of all people was just cruel...Which is probably why they did it.

The grin on At'ton's face dissolved, replaced by a look of disgust, _No one likes you, y'know. Everyone was sure you would be the first one killed in this mission._ M'gann just rolled her eyes. Was that really why he was here? To tell her stuff she already knew? _The most pathetic soldier the White Martian race has ever known. Haven't you ever wondered why YOU out of anyone else were place on the scouting mission?_

 _If you screwed up, which was pretty much a foregone conclusion, we could have used it. Imagine it: "Shape-shifting invader found!" Think of the ways we could have manipulated these weak minded apes with something like that. Sabotaging their already pathetic defensive measures, spreading misinformation, causing panic._

He chuckled slowly and stood in front of M'gann, _but then you did something better: You disappeared._

M'gann looked at him confused. She had always wondered why the invasion fleet had sent her on the scouting mission considering how little faith they had in her. Using that lack of faith in their favor made sense, she supposed. But the invasion seemed to be going fine as far as she could tell, so how did her disappearing help?

 _When you didn't report in, we all just assumed you somehow managed to get yourself killed. But no announcement of your death. No "Dead alien found in dirty alley" headlines. So we had to go about things a bit differently. Thankfully, we had the Justice League. If we couldn't conquer these people with fear and disorder...We'd do it through security._

 _So, you made everyone think they were safe with the Justice League. To lower their defenses._

At'ton snaps his fingers, _Exactly,_ He smiles at her again. _You're not as stupid as we all thought. And thanks to you not even being able to live of the low expectations of a sacrificial lamb, you managed to hand this planet to us. Thank you._ He said as he hugged M'gann. She had always wanted a hug from one of her people, but this...was just wrong.

M'gann pushed him off her and backed away some more. _So then, you're not here to kill me?_

 _Oh, don't worry, M'gann. We will kill you. But, we're going to have some fun with you first._

 _I didn't think our commanders even knew what fun was._

At'ton smirked, _you're different, M'gann. There's something in your eyes now. Hope, maybe?_ He turns away from M'gann and starts walking towards a wall. _Just makes what's about to happen all the more entertaining._ He walks through the wall, leaving M'gann alone in the alley.

Megan returned to work, more than a little raddled. At'ton was the model White Martian soldier because of his sadism and ruthlessness. Whatever his idea of fun was, it was more than likely going to involve pain on her end. A lot of it.

Everything At'ton put her through back on Vega II would be nothing compared to what he had planned now. _He said my hope would make things more entertaining. That can't be good._

A week or so passed since At'ton threatened M'gann, and she was slowly becoming more and more paranoid. She started scanning every mind she came across just to make sure they weren't a White Martian trying to do something. She was having trouble sleeping, both because of her fears and because she kept scanning the area around her apartment for brainwaves she didn't recognize.

It got so bad Wally, Elle, and her manager, Dominic, all asked if something was scaring her. It didn't help that Elle had seen M'gann's initial reaction to At'ton. Anyone could have seen the fear she displayed when At'ton left and she returned after her break clear as day, not to mention all the mistakes she began making at work.

She just said the Anton (She had to give them a name that didn't sound alien) was an old relationship that ended badly. Wally suggested she get a restraining order against him, and considering his uncle Berry worked for the police it shouldn't be that hard. Megan just cryptically said it wouldn't help.

And it wouldn't. Not only could At'ton change his appearance at will, he knew almost everything about her. What's truly sad is that At'ton is probably the closest thing M'gann had to a friend back home. If only because he willingly spent the most time with her. Sure almost every second of that time was spent tormenting her, but in the end he still knew her better than her own parents.

But what really terrified her was that At'ton had an entire week to ruin M'gann's life; and nothing. She hadn't sensed him or any other White Martians for the past seven day. Sitting on the knowledge that one of the most sadistic soldiers in her regiment wanted to hurt her for the past seven days was driving her nuts. It made her want him to attack her just to get it over with.

After a while, and still no attack, Dominic called Megan into his office. "Look, Dominic, I know I've been making a lot of mistakes lately, but-"

"No 'buts', Megan." Dominic softly interrupted. "Whatever's going on with you and this Anton guy, it is clearly affecting your work. I think you need some time off. At least a week or two, to sort things out."

Megan wanted to argue, to say that she's just fine...But she just didn't have the energy. Keeping an eye out for At'ton, knowing the invasion could start any day, and being powerless to stop either had taken a bigger toll on M'gann than she'd like to admit.

She just nodded, "Alright, yeah. I think that might be for the best." She left the office and went to the employee lounge to get her stuff and leave.

Elle walked in to start her shift and noticed Megan preparing to leave, "Hey, Megan. I though you we're working a full shift today."

"I was...I just..." She sighed and leaned against a closed locker, sliding down until she hit the floor. "I'm so tired. I don't know what to do..."

Elle pulled a chair in front of Megan and sat down, "Is this about Anton?"

"Yes...Kinda...Not...Entirely..." She sighed again, running a hand through her hair. Megan closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to sort through her thoughts.

Elle seemed to be thinking hard herself as she hadn't said anything herself. However, Megan spoke before she could, "Elle...If you knew something was going to happen...Something bad...But you weren't sure how to actually stop it; what would you do?"

Elle looked at her friend for a second before thinking about the question, "How bad are talking here?"

"A lot of innocent people getting hurt bad."

The Earth girl thought for a second more before shrugging, "I'd try to stop it anyway."

Megan looked up with a surprised expression, "You would?"

Elle nodded. She sighed and leaned back in her chair. "Alright, look. I'm about to tell you something kind of embarrassing. So don't tell anyone, alright?" Megan just nodded. "Alright, well...When I was younger, sometimes I'd tie a towel around my neck and jump around my living room pretending I'm Superman."

The confession brought the first real smile to Megan in almost a month. "I don't think it's that embarrassing. Little kids do stuff like that all - Wait...Superman's only been around for like eight years. Aren't you like twenty?"

"Twenty-two. I was sixteen when I did that." Elle explained with a heavy blush.

"Okay that is embarrassing. Not sure what it has to do this my question though."

Elle took another breath, "I think some people get the idea that, with guys like Superman and Wonder Woman around; normal people like us can just sit back and let them take care of everything. But for me, they're more like...inspirations. If you have the opportunity to do the right thing, you should. Even if you might mess something up."

 _Normal people like us_...But she wasn't a normal person. She could do more than Elle could ever dream of doing. But she was so weak compared to her fellow White Martians; she might as well be a normal human.

"I'll think about that, Elle. But I should probably head-" A loud rumble cut Megan off as the ground shook slightly.

"The hell was that?" Elle asked starting to worry.

"No..." Megan ran out of the room and towards the front as another rumble, louder this time, shook the restaurant once again. She looked out one of the windows to see a building toppling over as a large alien craft slowly flew over the city, firing on random structures in its path. "Nononono..."

"Oh my god..." Elle whispered next to Megan as smaller ships broke away from the larger one continuing the assault on the city.

 _They sent a flag ship. I can't believe they sent a flag ship to Central city. Is it because of me? Because I betrayed them? Oh god...All these people...They're all going to die because of me._ White Martian troopers were deployed on the ground as the Air Force entered into a hideously one-sided aerial battle with the invading army.

"Okay everyone!" Dominic tried to get the patrons and employee's attention as everyone in the restaurant began to freak out. "W-we need t-to remain calm! I'm sure the Flash can handle this and everything will be just fine." The clear crack in his voice showed just how scared he was despite he words.

"Are you freaking kidding me!?" someone in the crowd yelled, "Flash is awesome and everything, but how in Christ's name is he supposed to deal with that!?" he pointed out the window as White Martians swarmed the streets, gunning down police, military and civilians alike. The sight caused more people to panic and ignore Dominic's attempts to keep everyone calm.

Elle had dragged Megan behind the counter as the other girl had gone into some kind of catatonic state. "Okay, okay...Megan, I'm sure everything will be fine. Remember what I said about superheroes and inspiration? Well this is where it comes from. Them saving our asses from...stuff like that..." She said while looking out the window as an alien fighter buzzed the building, followed by another explosion.

Megan began rocking back and forth in the fetal position mutter to herself, "My fault, it's all my fault. Didn't help...Could have done...My fault..."

"Megan, come on, how is this your fault?"

"Didn't warn anyone...I should have warned someone, but I was too scared. I'm a coward." Megan began crying as she curled up into a ball and continued beating herself up for not doing anything to stop the invasion.

"Wait, Megan, is this what you were just talking about? The thing that was going to get a lot of people hurt? How did you know about an alien attack?"

Megan pulled at her long red hair as a life time of pain, insecurity and inadequacy issues suddenly boiled to the surface, "I should have tried! I should have done something!" As she descended into incoherent sobbing her shape-shifting powers began to break down as well. Megan shifted to various people she had met, but the forms blended and mashed into each other in a strange quagmire of human anatomy. "Everyone's going to die because I was too pathetic to do anything!"

Megan's body finally reverted and settled on her true Martian form, and Elle couldn't help but notice that her friend looked a lot like the aliens tearing the city apart. "M-Megan? What's going on?"

M'gann looked at Elle, the foreign white face and dull gray eyes not changing the fact that this was Megan Mizaki. _I'm so sorry, Elle._ M'gann's voice echoed in Elle's head, sounding so broken and distressed, _I'm sorry I couldn't stop this._

Before Elle could say anything to comfort her friend, the front doors exploded out as three White Martians walked into the building. _Hands up, humans! We've come to this miserable establishment looking for someone, and once we've found her we'll kill all of you._ The Martian leading the group spoke into the minds of everyone in the room.

 _At'ton, don't you think you should have said we'd let them_ live _once we find M'gann. So maybe they'd hand her over?_ One of At'ton's followers asked.

 _Oh, we've been lying to these people for over a year now. Don't you think it's about time we were honest with them?_

"Wow, what an asshole." Elle turned to M'gann who had shrunk down to a third of her original size. "So, they said they're looking for someone named M'gann...That's you isn't it?" M'gann just nodded her head. "So you're one of them?" The Martian girl nodded again. "Okay, so...Trying to stop an alien invasion is a bit more than I thought you would have had to deal with. But y'know what, I stick by what I said earlier. You can still try to stop this; even if you mess up, you still gotta try."

 _You don't understand, Elle. I can't stop them. I'm weak and pathetic and if I did try I'd probably just get everyone killed._

 _Okay M'gann,_ At'ton's mental voice got the two girls' attention, and noticed one of the White Martians holding a young girl with a laser gun to her head. _You chose these people over your own, so here's the deal: If you don't come out into the open now, we'll start killing every human in the building until we find you. But if you show yourself, we might let them go free. Well they won't be free, but at least they won't be dead, so there's that._

"Oh, my god what an asshole."

 _I have to hand myself over._

"What?"

 _At'ton said he'd let everyone live if I came out. If I can at least keep the people here safe, then it's the least I can do._

Elle grabs M'gann by the shoulders to keep her from standing up, "Okay Megan, I just met this guy and I'm pretty sure he's not only not stable but almost certainly lying right now. Now, I'm going to say this because you're my friend and I love you; you have without a doubt the lowest self-esteem of any living being I have ever met. You have superpowers, for god's sake. If I were you, I'd run out there guns, or whatever you have, blazing."

Elle...

"Megan, you are literally the only person in this room who can do anything to these guys. We're all going to die anyway, so you might as well give it a shot because we have nothing to lose at this point.

M'gann had to admit, Elle did have a point. There was no way At'ton would let anyone in this room leave alive. Once he was done with her, he just slaughter everyone else; or more likely At'ton would somehow immobilize M'gann and make her watch while he kills everyone. Elle was right, she had to do something.

Saying she had low self-esteem is an understatement. She was always so afraid of failing she rarely took many risks. The biggest risk was refusing to follow through with her scouting mission, but even then she did nothing to stop the invasion. She didn't think she could do anything. How was one person supposed to stop alien invasion, even if they were once part of it?

But if she did nothing...What would happen to Elle? To Wally? To everyone she's grown to care about over the last year? Could she really just sit back and allow this amazing, wonderfully flawed planet be subjugated just because she's a coward?

 _No. I can't._ She thought to herself with a determined look in her eyes. She turned to her friend, _Elle, stay down and stay hidden. Okay?_

"Okay!" She said, already pumped for Megan to be awesome, "What are you gonna do?"

 _Something really stupid._ Megan said, as she phased through the floor. Elle just took a breath, and silently preyed that whatever Megan had planned would work out.

At'ton swept his eyes the restaurant and his captives one last time, _she's not coming out. And here I thought the coward cared about these humans_. He nodded to the Martian holding the girl with a rifle to her head.

Before he could pull the trigger, the gun flew out of his hands. At'ton smirked, _about time._ Everyone's attention turned to the front of the counter as a form rose through the floor. Though no one expected what appeared to be a young female Green Martian. She wore what looked like a combination of the Martian Manhunter's costume and a Japanese Sailor Fuku uniform. The top consisted of a short sleeve dark blue blouse with the Martian Manhunter signature red X across the chest, with a lighter blue collar extended into a cape that came down to her knees. A belt with a golden buckle connected the blouse to the pleated skirt of the same color which comes down to her mid-thigh, and complimented with a pair of knee-high black stockings and loafers.

Her face looked more or less the same as Megan Mizaki's, same freckles, same red hair, same large eyes; but her eyes changed from green to red, and her skin the same hue as a Green Martian.

The three invaders, so caught off guard by a Green Martian appearing, took a moment too long to register M'gann firing heat from her eyes. The "Martian Vision" is supposed to be more of a last resort kinda thing for the White Martians, if they ran out of ammo or their weapons jam, as it takes more personal energy than any of the their other abilities. Making M'gann using it yet another thing that took the invaders by surprise. The Martian holding the little girl was slammed into a wall by the M'gann's initial attack and rendered unconscious. She flew forward and grabbed the girl, phasing through the floor to get her to safety.

When she didn't appear again, At'ton and his remaining underling fan out to find her. As he stood in front of a frightened woman, she heard a gentle feminine voice in her head, _Excuse me, miss?_ The woman gasped in shock, looking around for the source of the voice, _don't worry ma'am. Everything's okay. I just need you to move a little to the left. And don't say anything out loud, just think it. Okay?_

 _O-okay?_ She did as the voice asked and moved until she was right behind the Martian, _like this?_

 _Perfect!_ Just then the two tables the Martian was standing between smashed into him. M'gann then flew through the ceiling grabbed the Martian by the head, and slammed it into the ground as she phased through it; leaving At'ton alone. _Thanks!_ She said to the woman telepathically.

 _Uh...No problem?_

At'ton grimaced as he looked around, needing only one opportunity to put M'gann out of her misery. _I should have expected these coward's tactics, M'gann!_ He quickly scanned the surrounding minds, seeking any trace of M'gann's human disguise. He finally found a woman with knowledge of both M'gann's new green and human forms. He moves quickly behind the counter and pulls Elle to her feet. _Alright M'gann! I know this human in particular means something to you! Come out of hiding or I'll rip her head off._ At'ton punctuated the treat be gripping Elle's head in his massive claws.

All was quiet for a moment before M'gann phased through the floor in front of At'ton and Elle. _Let her go, At'ton. This is between us. These people have nothing to do with it._

 _That's where you're wrong, M'gann._ He said while tightening the hold on Elle, _You betrayed our people for this planet. I'd say that makes them part of this as well. Y'know, I was planning on taking you alive, just so you could see me slaughter all these pathetic creatures. But now, I can't take that risk._ At'ton points his rifle at M'gann.

Before he could pull the trigger, Elle used every ounce of strength and adrenaline she could summon to bring At'ton's arm to her mouth and bite down as hard as humanly possible. The weapon fell out of his hand and he roared in pain. As he back hands Elle away, M'gann fires her Martian Vision at At'ton. The invader counters with his own Martian Vision at the last second, the two beams of heat fighting for dominance.

After only a few seconds, M'gann realized she was in trouble. She had been forced in the one situation she didn't want to be in, a contest of strength with At'ton. He had always been stronger, and going by the sadistic smirk on his face, At'ton knew he had her.

M'gann was quickly losing ground against her enemy, so much so even Elle could see it. She looked around for something to help her friend, and spotted the fryers still going strong. She dashed over to one, grabbed one of the baskets full of burnt fries and tossed them on At'ton's leg.

The pain from the boiling oil forced At'ton's eyes closed; ending the struggle between him and M'gann, with M'gann's beams drilling right through At'ton's neck.

M'gann blinked as At'ton's headless body fell to the ground. "I-I didn't..." M'gann didn't have time to finish her thought when the whole restaurant erupted into cheers. The patrons all swarm the alien girl, giving her thanks and accolades, but the attention still made her blush.

"That was amazing!"

"Thank you, so much!"

"Were you in my head a minute ago?"

"So are you, like, Martian Manhunter's daughter or something?" The last person got everyone asking the same or similar questions.

"Oh...um, no. It's more like I'm his...niece? I guess?" Okay, it'd actually be more accurate to say she's his distant cousin, but these people didn't need to know she was a White Martian. "So, uh, if you'll excuse me..." M'gann floated off the ground and telekinetically lifted the two downed Martians as well. "I should take these two to the proper authorities."

She glanced at Elle smiling at her like she was the most amazing person on the planet. It brought a brilliant smile to M'gann's face as well, until she remembered At'ton lying behind the counter. "And someone should probably cover up, or move At- the dead Martian's body." A few patrons and employees moved to do as the alien hero instructed. "So, um...Bye!" M'gann phased through the ceiling, leaving the people to stay in the burger place in relative safety.

M'gann used a couple of discarded wires to tie the two White Martians up, in case they woke up before she could dump them somewhere. She flew over the devastated streets of Central City, the battle for the planet still going on, but no one really taking notice of the green girl flying through the air with two hostile soldiers floating behind her.

She then noticed something she wasn't at all surprised by; the super-fast hero Flash and his side kick Kid Flash, fighting off a group of Whites. Surprisingly, there was a third speedster helping them. She didn't know there was another Flash running around.

Figuring they would be the best people to hand the Martians over to, she waited until they had felled the last of the hostile forces before landing in front of they, "Uh...Hi..." The Flash takes a second to look M'gann up and down as his prodigies run up to them. The youngest speedster, a boy in his early teens with reddish brown hair, a yellow visor over his eyes, and white suit with a red design slightly resembling an arrow running down his chest, said to the others, "So, I'm not the only one seeing the green school girl with two Whites floating in the air behind her, am I?"

"No I defiantly see her too." Kid Flash said. M'gann heard that Kid Flash had retired some time before she came to Earth, but she guessed the threat of alien invasion was enough to get his to wear the suit again. The suit in question is what M'gann had always seen him in from the older photos and video with the Flash; a body suit like the Flash and the younger speedster, but only the legs were red, and the torso being yellow, with the Flash signature lightning bolts emblem on his chest. M'gann just noticed the youngest Flash didn't have the same emblem. Maybe he wasn't officially a Flash just yet.

"So who are you exactly?" The Flash asked, getting right to business.

"O-oh, um...Y-you can just call me M'gann. I uh...N-noticed these two attacking a Burger Planet a couple of blocks away from here. And, y'know...Stopped them."

"Wait, did you say Burger Planet?" They others turned Kid Flash, "Everyone's okay right? I mean, no one got hurt or anything?"

Kid Flash had taken off his red goggles and M'gann finally got a good look at his vibrant green eyes. Something about Kid Flash seemed familiar to her, but she didn't put too much though into it. "Uh, yeah. Everyone's fine. Don't worry."

The ginger speedster seemed extremely relieved by this, and M'gann got an idea on why but decided not to voice her suspicion. "Well, I also wanted to give you some valuable information. Have you been able to locate the White Martian's command ship?"

"Yeah, it's in the planet's upper stratosphere over Metropolis." The Flash explained, "But with the sheer number of enemy ships swarming the thing, I'm not sure even Superman could break through their defenses."

"You could if you had authorization." The alien girl said with a smile. The three Flashes perk up hearing this and M'gann continues, "Hijack a White Martian ship and use the code 4438906. That should get you on the command ship. If you can capture their leaders, the others will surrender. But I have to warn you, the authorization code might be out of date."

"Wow, useful." The young Flash said. "How'd you find that out?"

"I-" You'd really think M'gann would be a better liar by now, "Over heard them saying it." Said explained pointing to the Whites she brought with her.

"Wait, if you over heard these two saying the code, why would it be out of date?" The Flash asked rationally.

M'gann opened her mouth a few times trying to think up something she could say, but ended up drawing a blank. "Oh...With my heightened Martian hearing I can hear someone in danger, I must go now!" She nervously said while beginning to fly off.

The three Flashes watch the alien girl fly away mulling over the information they just heard. "She was kinda weird." Kid Flash said.

"Yeah, she was." The Flash commented.

"Cute though."

"That she was." The youngest Flash agreed. "So, Grandpa Berry, you think we should believe her?"

"First, don't call me grandpa, Bart." The Flash started, "And I should talk to J'onn about this before we take any major risks."

* * *

M'gann spent the rest of the invasion helping people fend off the White Martians throughout Central City. Eventually, news came that the Justice League had infiltrated the White Martian's command ship and forced them into surrender.

About two week have passed since the invasion ended. Reconstruction has begun, and the people of Earth have gone back to their usual lives; Megan included. The nightmare was finally over. M'gann could peacefully live on Earth without having to worry about her fellow Whites wiping everyone out or someone coming to lock her up. She had managed to help the Justice League defeat the White Martians and did so without having to reveal herself as White. Sure they thought another Green was flying around; but since M'gann had no intention of being a superhero she didn't think it'd be that big of a deal.

The damage done to Burger Planet was fairly negligible and the few repairs needed were completed quickly. Fortunately, most businesses in Central City (As well as most major cities with a resident superhero) have insurance policies for damages caused by either aliens or super villains. All of Burger Planet's employees got a week off from work with pay; the majority of that time she spent with Wally.

On her first day back at work, everything was just about the same, as if the world wasn't almost taken over by her own race. Then one costumer in particular came up to Megan's register. He was a tall black man, maybe a head taller than Megan, with a handsome chiseled face and broad frame wearing a long brown trench coat. After giving him the usual Burger Planet greeting, he just looked down at her with intense dark brown eyes. "U-um...Sir? If you're not going to order, I'll have to ask you to step aside. There are others waiting to order." The man just kept looking at her

He was really starting to freak out Megan, as well as Elle standing next to her and a few people behind him. The guy was immensely intimidating and that was the only reason no one had said anything to hurry him along. Just wanting him to go away, Megan reached into his mind to plant the idea to leave the restaurant. Only to be stopped by a deep voice in her head, _I was wondering when you try to influence my mind. I did not expect a "Please", though._

Megan's eyes widened. _You just...Wait. Are you-?_

"I would like to speak with you, miss..." The man looks at her name tag before continuing, "...Mizaki. When will your shift be over?" he asked cordially.

"Uh...About five hour or so?"

He nodded, "Very well. I shall wait until then. In the meantime, I would like a number three meal. No onions."

"O...Kay. That will be $7.64." The man paid, waited patiently for his food, and then walked over to a secluded table. After finishing his meal he remained there, just sitting and waiting. He wasn't glaring at Megan, but he did seem to be watching her intently. However the way he watch her was utterly neutral, like she were a wild animal and he was observing her behavior for a paper he's writing. Occasionally, someone would walk over to him to tell him to leave only for them to walk away, claiming that no one was actually there. The man was definitely telepathic, Megan uses the same trick whenever Wally dragged her to a party and random drunk guys try to hit on her.

Finally, Megan's shift ended and as she got her stuff to go home, Elle asked her, "Hey, Megan. What's up with that dude that kept staring at you all day? I am getting some serious At'ton vibes from him, y'know?"

"Yes, I know. But I don't think you need to worry."

"Well, do you think he's another White Martian?"

Megan took a second to really consider the possibility before answering, "Actually, I think he's the Martian Manhunter." Elle was left speechless as Megan left to talk to the supposed superhero.

When Megan came to the front of the restaurant, he could see the man still sitting there. He hadn't move an inch since he sat down. Megan carefully sat across from him, not completely sure what to expect from this meeting.

"Are you ready to talk, Ms. Mizaki?" He asked when Megan got herself settled.

"I think you know that's not my real name." She said cautiously.

"Yes, I do." The level of stoic this guy can exude is staggering. "But I not know you real name. And I assume you are comfortable with being called Megan Mizaki. Am I correct?" She nodded, "Then for the time being, that is what I shall call you."

"Okay. So...Uh, what did you want to talk to me about?"

He just started at her for a moment, as if wondering if he should tell her whatever it is he's about to say; but eventually he begins, "I take it you have at least some idea of who I am. The name I carry on Earth, and ever perhaps the name I carried on Mars. But I doubt you know how I came to be on this planet."

Megan shook her head, but said nothing and allowed the Manhunter to continue. "Long after the conflict between the Green and White Martians was concluded; and the Whites were driven off of our home planet, a plague broke out amongst our people. A deadly pathogen even our most gifted doctors could not find a permanent cure for.

Around this time, an Earth scientist named Dr. Saul Erdel was experimenting with teleportation technology. An accident caused his device to malfunction, and in a bazaar twist of fate, brought me to Earth. Though initially surprised by my appearance, the kind doctor agreed to send me back to Mars if I became his assistant.

Unfortunately, Dr. Erdel was very old and died only a few months after I arrived. I was a solider, not a scientist, and even the primitive technologies of Earth at the time were beyond much of my comprehension. I could not complete the teleportation device on my own, and I have been stranded on this planet since the Earth year 1955."

Megan gave him a genuinely sympathetic look, "I'm so sorry. To be separated from your home for so long must have been difficult." Ever if she could really relate to the feeling, she did understand it. "But Earth has been able to travel to many planets in their star-system by now. Why haven't you returned to Mars yet?"

A pained look washed across the Manhunter's face, the first display of emotion he had shown since he arrived, "I did once." He took a moment to compose himself and returned to the stoic expression he had been sporting before. "Some thirty years after I came to Earth, the technology became available to travel to another planet. I had previously been affiliated with the superhero team known as the Justice Society, and had acquired many allies within the government. They allowed me to join the maiden voyage to Mars, to return to my home. I cannot express the unbridled joy I felt on that journey. To finally, after so many years, be able to see my home. My family.

But all happiness was dashed as soon as we landed. Mars was never the most fertile of planets, but it had never been so empty. So bleak. It was what I had always feared, but prayed was not true. The plague had wiped out the Green Martian race."

"Oh...I see." Megan understood what the Manhunter was trying to explain. He knew exactly what she was. She lowered her head in shame, "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"That is surprising. I would think the Whites would hold a celebration to the death of the Greens." Megan was surprised to hear almost no hostility or resentment in his voice. Had the situation been reversed; had she been a Green and the Manhunter a White, he would be spouting every venomous word he could think of in both English and Martian.

"You aren't upset that I'm White?"

The Manhunter looked at her contemplatively for a moment, "Do you know who I am?"

Megan nodded, fairly certain of whom she was talking to, "You're J'onn J'onzz. You were a great warrior during the civil war."

"And you do not hate me for all of your kin I have killed?"

Megan thought about his question before answering, "Well, to be completely honest; if I had met you a year ago, I would have absolutely terrified of you." The Manhunter raised an eyebrow at that. "And don't get me wrong, I'm still pretty nervous. But I don't think I've ever really hated you or any of the Greens. The war happened so long ago, it didn't really affect me in anyway. I was born on Vega II, not Mars so I don't really feel like I missed anything. And it was a war. I'm sure my ancestors killed just as many of you kin as you did of mine."

"I see..." was all the Manhunter said.

"Um, Mr. Manhunter...If I could ask...?"

"Just J'onn, please."

"J'onn, how did you find me exactly?"

"I spent my first several years on Earth as a detective. I still practice in fact. I rationalized that it would be unlikely that three White Martians would randomly attack a fast food establishment only to be stop by a Green Martian appearing out of nowhere as the Flash informed me. Mostly for the fact that I am the last surviving Green Martian. I hypothesized that they had come to this place to find a White Martian that had gone rogue for some reason, using the guise of a Green to separate herself from the Whites, and to use the good will I have garnered for the Green race.

I made the assumption that the White Martian was hiding as an employee. I had little evidence to go on, but I figured it was the best place to start and I could formulate a more sound theory as the investigation continued. I eventually found an employee that had started in the last year with no prior work experience, no former address, no know social security number, and no birth records."

"Yeah, I guess if you dig deep enough, it would kinda obvious." Megan said slowly sinking into her seat.

"Not necessarily." J'onn began, "You could have simply been an illegal alien from another country, rather than another planet. That is way I came to day. To see for myself if you were a Martian or not. When you attempted to influence my mind, I knew my suspicions were correct."

Megan nodded silently, her eyes still down. "So...what happens now?"

"Despite aiding us during the White Martian invasion, you are still a member of a hostile alien race. And though I have come to believe you are no threat to the planet that is not entirely my decision to make." Megan lifted her head, looking at J'onn with uncertainty in her eyes.

"The U.N. council has given the Justice League the right to decide the fate of alien visitors we have discovered. If by majority vote, we allow you to stay on Earth, you will stay. However if we decide you are a danger the people of this world, you will be sent off the planet to fend for yourself. Do you understand, Megan?" Megan nodded again, "Very well. If you will please follow me..."

J'onn led Megan out of the restaurant and to an abandoned ally a few blocks away. "Um, J'onn? Where are we going?"

He stood in front of an old broken down payphone booth and turned to her, "This is a disguised Zeta tube. A teleportation system based on Dr. Erdel's experiments. This will take us to the Justice League Watchtower." He opened the booth punched a few numbers on a key pad on the phone, which opened a gateway for the two Martians to walk through.

However before they could, Megan felt a sudden pressure in her mind. She grabbed the side of the booth as J'onn helped steady her as the strange pressure past. "Are you alright, Megan?" The Manhunter asked genuine concern in his voice.

The young Martian stood straight, still holding her head, "Ugh...Yeah I think I'm fine. I just...Felt something."

"Like what? Some sort of psychic attack?"

"No, no...Nothing like that." Megan looked up to the nearby roof she felt the pressure from, but nothing was there. "It felt more like something pulling at me?" She glanced at J'onn who had an uncertain look. "Well, I'm actually really anxious right now. And it felt like someone was...I don't know...Sharing that anxiety."

J'onn placed a hand on his chin, contemplating what Megan just told her. "Do you feel this 'Pulling' now?"

She shook her head, "No, it was only for a second."

The Manhunter nodded, "We shall investigate this later; assuming all goes well. Now come, the others are waiting." Taking a deep breath, Megan follows the Manhunter into the Zeta Tube.

As the gate closes, a hooded figure walks out of the shadow she was hiding in. Connecting to the emotions of a telepath was risky. If she pulled to hard, the Martian could have found her. She was just lucky her magical skills could shield her from telepathy. She couldn't be discovered just yet, she wasn't ready. There was still much to do.

* * *

Stepping out of the Zeta Tube, Megan came face to face with the Earth's greatest heroes waiting for them. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, and Aquaman stood before them. Even without trying to, they looked every bit as intimidating as you think they would.

Megan takes a step back bumping into the Manhunter, who had shifted out of his human disguise and into his more publicly known form. Tall, muscular, ostensibly human in shape, bald head, with red pupil less eyes. The signature red X across his bare chest and a blue cape coming down to the back of his knees. He nudged Megan forward towards the League.

"Um, hi..." She said, nervously waving at the heroes.

"Yep this is defiantly the same girl." The Flash quipped.

"So this is Martian Manhunter's niece, huh?" Superman asked good heartedly. Apparently the lie she came up with in a moment of panic spread pretty quickly.

Megan scratches the back of her head, "I, uh...I can explain that."

"No need." Batman interrupted, "J'onn brought you here to see if you can be trusted to stay on Earth. So let get this over with." Megan withdrew into herself slightly at Batman's tone and scrutinizing gaze.

"I wouldn't be too spooked by Bats, kid." Green Lantern stated in a reassuring tone, "He's not exactly a people person." Batman just glares at him.

"If we may proceed." The Manhunter said, nodding to Wonder Woman.

The Amazon hero walked forward towards Megan, unlatching the golden lasso from her hip. "To discover your true intentions in living on Earth, we will have to use the Lasso of Truth in our interrogations." She calmly explained holding the lariat for the alien girl to see. "While in the lasso's embrace, you will be mystically forced to reveal only the truth. Is that understood?" Megan nodded, feeling far more at ease than when she first arrived.

Wonder Woman tied the lasso around Megan's wrist. The lariat began to glow and M'gann was forced to shift into her original White Martian form. Shocked, M'gann began to panic at her true self being revealed. "Clam yourself girl." Wonder Woman said, placing a gently hand on M'gann's shoulder, the girl now a few inches taller than the warrior woman. "The lasso burns away all deception. Even shape-shifting." She moves her hand to tenderly cup M'gann's cheek, "All is well." And just like that, any anxiety she were feeling melted away. The heroine turns to her team, indicating they are open to ask the Martian girl anything they want to know.

"Let's start with something basic," Batman said calmly, "What is your name and where do you come from?"

The lasso glows once again, _I am M'gann M'orzz. I was born and raised on the second planet in the Vega system which the White Martians adopted as their home after being exiled from Mars._

"Why did you come to Earth?" Superman asked next.

M'gann looked down in shame as the golden lasso forced her to speak, _I was part of the initial scouting party of the White Martian invasion. It was our job to find and exploit any weaknesses in Earth's defenses to make it easier for the invasion fleet and to eliminate any potential threats._

The League share worried glances with one another after hearing this new bit of information. All except J'onn, who continued to stand by the girl in solidarity. It seemed very little could turn his opinion of her.

Batman was the first to express his opinion, "It seems you did a good job, then. We very nearly lost this fight."

M'gann looked away from the dark hero, absent-mindedly picking at the rope around her wrist. "Don't forget, Batman," J'onn started clearly, "Megan was also the one to give us our victory over the White Martians. Without her we very possibly would have lost." M'gann smiled at the Manhunter.

"That's actually something I've been curious about. Why help us fight off you own people?" The Flash asked, not exactly accusatory but genuinely curious.

 _Well...I didn't have the best childhood on Vega II. I was an outcast and no one, not even my own parents respected or really cared about me. But when I came to Earth; and saw how different and warm and accepting its people were...I knew I couldn't go through with my mission._

This too got most of the League thinking. The lasso was still on her wrist and it was glowing, M'gann was telling the truth. "What information did you give your superiors before your change of heart?" Aquaman asked before anyone else.

 _None._ The Atlantean ruler looked incredulously at her before she could continue, _I came to the decision to abandon my mission before I could learn any useful information about Earth. I didn't even know about any of you at the time._

"So what have you been doing since you came to Earth?" Green Lantern asked.

 _Well, I've been working at Burger Planet for pretty much the entire time I've been on this planet._

"Yes we knew that from J'onn's investigation." Wonder Woman explained, "But what else. You must have done something other than working."

"Yeah, you're not Batman." Green Lantern joked.

 _Oh, u-uh...Well, I mean...I, uh..._ M'gann stumbled a bit, kind of embarrassed to admit that she was an Otaku. Really, how many people would willingly tell the Justice League of all people that they're a huge geek?

Wonder Woman tightened her grip on the lasso, causing it to glow slightly brighter, "Answer the question. The Lasso compels you."

Unable to hold the truth back any longer, M'gann blurted out, _I spent pretty much the whole year watching anime!_

The silent looks of surprise and confusion that over took the League would have been hysterical if M'gann weren't freaking the hell out right now. _W-well, I-I mean it wasn't only anime. Although I did watch a lot of it. I really like Magical Girl anime. The Green Martian look I used kinda combined one of my favorite Magical Girl characters with the Martian Manhunter. I also like sort of sci-fi type shows, like Dr. Who. I started with the newer series then went back to the original. I think my favorite Doctor is 4. He just seemed really warm and kinda funny and..._

"Alright, M'gann. I think that's enough." The Amazon said taking the Lasso from her wrist. She shifted back into her human form as soon as the magic of the lasso wore off.

"So, uh can we just pretend that stream of word vomit was because the lasso wouldn't let me shut up?"

Wonder Woman smiled softly at Megan, "As you wish."

Even the Manhunter's mouth twitched in a small smile. He turned to the others, "Well...?"

"Even I'm not suspicious of her anymore." Batman stated openly.

"Seconded." Superman voted.

"Aye." Aquaman raised his trident.

"Same here." Flash said.

"Anyone who likes the fourth Doctor is a friend of mine." Green Lantern said with a smile.

"I think it would be obvious where my decision lies." J'onn said calmly.

"As should mine." Wonder Woman stood next to Megan with a serene smile on her face; the young girl standing between the two heroes.

Nodding, Superman stepped forward, "Then I'd say it unanimous. Welcome to Earth M'gann M'rozz." The Man of Steel held out his hand.

Megan's face split into a thousand watt smile as she took it. "You can just call me Megan."

* * *

So now I can explain about Megan. And yeah this was easily the longest individual chapter in this story. I can promise you the others won't be nearly this long...Maybe...I really hope not.

Anyway, I took a lot of inspiration for this version of Megan from the Young Justice cartoon. I made up pretty much all the stuff about White Martian society, since I don't think we ever really learn that much about it in other media, and I thought it'd be fun to explore an alien race compared to Earth that we don't see that often. I just like the idea that all of Megan's best qualities are considered weaknesses in her own culture.

Miss Martian was kinda the character to get me to write this story in the first place. I wanted to try redesigning her costume and got the idea to make her costume look like a sailor fuku uniform. Why? I have no idea. But then I had to come up with a reason for her to make her costume look like that, and the answer was simple: Make her an Otaku! Everything else just kinda started to piece itself together after that. I also really wanted Megan to have some serious issues with her self-esteem like in Young Justice, and having all the other White Martians hating her seemed like a good way to go with it.

Is it obvious who the hooded chick is yet? Cause it should be by now. I wasn't being subtle about it.

Up next: The Lightning Bolt


	6. The Lightning Bolt

The Lighting Bolt

There have been so many prophesies of how the world will end in human history. But as the centuries wore on, fewer and fewer people truly believed the end would come. This lack of belief was aided considerably by the emergence of superheroes in the last century. After all, when you have the likes of Green Lantern, Dr. Fate, and Superman around, the threat of the apocalypse doesn't seem as viable.

God-like super villains, alien invasions, and even man-made pathogens all struck Earth at one point or another, but the heroes were always able to come out on top. That is until the demon lord Trigon appeared. No one is completely sure where he came from, but there had been legends and myths surrounding his existence for centuries. Even several alien species have heard of Trigon the Terrible.

Many of the world's heroes died in the numerous battles against Trigon's demon army, countless cities had been destroyed, and even the Sun was blotted out. Earth has been a living hell for the last 40 years.

The few remaining heroes still fought, despite how little hope existed in the world, or maybe because of it. Most of the younger heroes have only known the horrors of the present day and consider the tales of old-school heroism just myths, and very few genuinely believe that they can defeat Trigon. They only fight so they can cause as much grief to Trigon as possible. If they're gonna die, they might as well go out swinging.

A hand full of them do genuinely believe they can still make a difference, however. Bart Allen, the Flash's grandson, is one of them. Bart had inherited Berry's speed powers and was determined to use them to make the world better.

The superhuman resistance is led by the two oldest living heroes: Diana the princess of Themyscira (even though the Amazons had all been wiped out by the demons) acted as the trainer for the younger heroes as well as the strategic mind behind all of their missions.

The other is a woman only known as Oracle. No one other than Diana knows who Oracle really is, but even she doesn't refer to her by her real name. Some people aren't even sure if Oracle is a real person or some old computer AI Batman used and Victor, the resident computer genius, upgraded. Who or whatever she is, Oracle has been able to gain useful information on the demons activities, and combined with Diana's strategies, they would developed plans of attack that always ended in success, even if they usually lost a man or two.

Missions like this were always the worst. Not just because it was hard; according to Oracle hard was part of the job description. It's because they almost always lose someone. Even the smallest prisons had insane levels of security. And this was not one of the small prisons. Over 200 acres; almost twenty stories high; and about 7,500 inmates held and tortured on a daily basis. The guards tasked with keeping the inmates inside and any intruders out were innumerable and it would be a miracle if they didn't get Trigon's attention. It was a massive risk, but it was a risk Bart Allen knew had to be taken.

A set of explosions drew the guards to the southwest town of the prison, only for them to find automatic turrets ready to mow down anything that comes in their range. The distraction worked and gave Bart the time need to run though the walls of the opposite end of the prison.

 _Alright, I'm in._ Bart stated within his mind, communicating with his team through the mental link connecting them.

 _Good work, Bart._ Megan, the conduit for the mental link, said to the boy, _remember the plan: round up as many out the inmates as you can, subdue any straggling guards, and tell us when we can come in._

 _On it!_ Bart ran from a dead stop as fast as he could to find the controls for the cell doors. He found the control room, knocked out the guards, and released the prisoners. He ran throughout the prison grabbing every inmate he saw and bringing them to a room he had been securing since opening the cells. Every time he brought someone to the room, he'd add a new layer of defense; the whole process took him about two to five seconds, depending on how big the new layer was. Having super speed really came in handy sometimes.

Unfortunately, even for the fastest boy alive, getting 7,500 people into one place by himself takes time. Bart only managed to clear five floors before the guards started to return to their patrols; apparently they managed to destroy all of Vic's turret drones. He's gonna be pissed about that. Vic gets a major hate-on for anyone who wrecks his tech, and those turrets took a while for him to make.

Bart knocked out a few guards as he carried a couple more inmates before contacting Megan, _Little Green? I'm gonna need some help down here. The distraction didn't last as long as we hoped._

 _We know. Back up should be coming any second._ Bart was about to turn a corner when a wall exploded, followed by a burst of purple energy tearing through any guards standing in its way.

 _Megan, remind me to give Raquel a big sloppy kiss when we get out of this._ Bart ran down the hall following Raquel's path back to the safe zone he built for them. Thankfully Megan's mental link meant Raquel knows where Bart's sanctuary is.

 _Sure thing, lover boy. But we should really focus on the "Getting out of this" part. Vic, Danny, and I will work our way down to you. You and Raquel keep each other alive._

Bart continued rescuing people with Raquel, occasionally flirting with the flying girl as they went through the compound. Bart wasn't really interested in Raquel, she was one of the cutest girls he knew sure, but when the world is over, romance tends to take a back seat to everything else. But the smile she gave him, or quick chuckle whenever he said something obviously flattering made it worthwhile.

After clearing out the first dozen or so floors, Bart and Raquel ran into a wall of guards as they headed to another floor. They prepared to fight them off when a sonic blast bowled the guards over with ones still standing being slammed into the wall by an invisible force. Vic and Megan ran up to the two younger heroes, followed by a large number of inmates. "Well, someone's been busy." Bart quipped.

Megan flashed one of her bright smiles, though a bit of the shine wore out over the years. Megan looked much the same as she did when she first came to Earth: same red hair, though in a shorter bob cut, same large eyes and freckles. She still passes as Green, but ditched her Magical Girl inspired costume for one closer to the Manhunter's. After all, with J'onn gone, Megan more or less was the Martian Manhunter.

"We managed to get most of the other prisoners down here; unfortunately we couldn't get 'em all here in one piece." Vic's mostly metal face took a darker tone, as he reflected on the lives he and Megan couldn't save. Victor had been in a number of battles since the demons arrived and had been on the receiving end of a fair few beatings. He's needed to be repaired more times than he could count; by now the only organic part of him is his head.

Vic lightly shook his head, and focused on the now, "Your safe zone still safe?" He asked Bart.

"It should be..."

"Then go down and make sure it still is." Vic ordered, and Bart ran off to do his duty. Bart understood Vic's disappointment, he and Raquel lost a few people while they were making their way through the prison. Every time Bart and Raquel came back to the safe zone the guards were tying their damnedest to break in and either re-capture or, more likely, kill the escapees. However, thanks to Bart and Raquel the safe zone stayed protected and fortified.

Bart stood guard at the safe zone, fending off any hostiles that came close to it, until the others came along. They piled the escaped inmates into the room Bart secured. They all barely fit, but they wouldn't be there for long. Vic placed four spiked nods into a wall and used his internal computer to activate a Zeta Tube. "Alright everyone, single file to freedom!" The four heroes usher the prisoners into the gateway as quickly as possible. They had been in this prison far too long, and it was only a matter of time before _He_ sent someone more substantial to deal with them.

Most of the inmates had made it through the Zeta Tube before the barricade Bart set up was blown apart by the swordsman, Harm. Harm was more or less human, having obtained his powers by making a pact with Trigon when he was younger. By now he'd be in his late fifties to early sixties, but looks no older than thirty. His muscular and heavily scarred chest exposed with an open shirt. A tattoo marked over his eye and a mystic sigil burned into his forehead. "Well, look what we have here? Cockroaches that need to be squashed." He twirls his sword lazily with a smug grin on his face.

"Great, just who we need right now." Vic muttered under his breath.

"Don't worry, I got him!" Raquel flew towards the swordsman using her increased momentum to knock him out of the room.

"Raquel!" Bart was about to run after her, but a strong green hand held him in place.

"Bart, you can't go after her!" Megan said to the boy with clear concern in her eyes.

Bart shook her off, "What do you mean!? Raquel doesn't stand a chance against Harm!"

"I know that's why I'm going to help." She started, before sighing heavily, "And once you get all the prisoners through, close the Zeta Tube behind you."

"What!?" Both Bart and Vic said in unison.

Vic grabbed Megan's shoulder, "Megan, we can't just close it and leave you two here. We can stay and-"

"No, you two are too important." The Martian girl interrupted, "You need to survive this, and Harm can't find our base." Raquel's scream draws their attention to the hideously one-sided fight going on in the next room. Megan turns back to her two friends, "I'll try to get Raquel through too, but knowing her..." She quickly hugs them, "Stay safe, and tell everyone I love them." Megan lets go and flies off to help the younger girl.

Vic continues to push people through, although admittedly not as quickly as before. Bart took a few seconds before helping him, and hoping that Megan and Raquel would make it through in time. Another scream from Raquel made it clear they probably weren't.

"That was the last prisoner...Bart, let's go."

Bart hesitated again, "Let's...Lets just give 'em another minute or two."

"Bart, we gonna go!"

"We can't just leave them!"

"Bart, go!" Vic picks the speedster up and throws him into the Zeta Tube before jumping in himself.

Once on the other side of the gate, Vic uses the control panel on his right arm to shut down the Zeta Tube and destroy the nods still in the prison that opened it. Vic sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes, "Vic...?" The robotic man turns to the young speedster.

"Bart...look...I'm sorry, I..."

"No, it's okay man." Bart walked over and patted Vic's metal arm. "Look, I know how hard that must have been for you. Megan's been your friend for years, but she did ask us to leave her."

"Yeah...yeah..." Vic sighed again, tiredly rubbing his face.

"Victor, Bart!" Diana and a few others walked up to them. "It good to see you both in one piece. But where are Megan and Raquel?"

Vic looked away from their leader, "They didn't make it."

Looks of shock dawned on the assembled faces at the news that two more of their rake had fallen. "Harm showed up." Bart said, preemptively answering the question everyone wanted to ask. "Raquel and Megan held him off while me and Vic got the prisoners through the Zeta Tube. We had to leave them behind so Harm couldn't follow."

Diana eyed Victor with no small amount of concern. Vic is one of Megan's closest and oldest friends, and Diana cared for her a great deal as well, so she perfectly understood his pain. "Victor, maybe you should head back to your quarters. Get some rest and mourn our loss."

"Nah. I'm heading to the lab. Still got work to do." Vic walked away from the Zeta Tube, muttering softly, "It's what Megan wanted." The people that accompanied Diana followed Vic out, offering whatever condolences they could.

"He's gonna be okay, right Diana?" Bart asked.

The warrior silently considered Victor's emotional well-being for a moment, "We will have to see, Bart." She turned to the boy fully, "We've all suffered great loss in defying Trigon. But a heart can only break so many times before it can no longer be mended."

Bart looked down pensively, not sure what he can do for his friend. "Bart..." Diana started, getting his attention, "You should go rest. We'll hold a memorial for Megan and Raquel later today. I'll try my best to make sure Victor is there as well."

"Yeah...Yeah, okay. Thanks Diana." He started to walk away, but stopped and turned back towards Diana. "Hey, Megan said something before she went to fight Harm. She said 'You two are too important to leave behind'. What did she mean by that?"

Diana drew her brows together in thought before answering, "Victor and Oracle have been working on something for the last few months. Do you remember when Victor and Megan were sent on that mission to Central City's ruins some time ago?" The boy nodded his head, "They were sent to retrieve something that once belonged to your grandfather. Something we hoped you would be able to use as well."

"So what was it? And why is it so important?"

"I can't say just yet. We still don't know if it will even work. But if it does, we may be able to finally defeat Trigon."

Bart's eyes widen in delight and surprise, "Holy crap! Really!? How!? What can I do!? This is amazing! Wait till I tell everyo-"

"No, Bart!" Diana grabbed the young speedster by the shoulders as he started to literally vibrate in excitement. "You can't tell anyone about this."

Bart calmed down and looked at Diana in confusion, "Uh, why? We can finally stop Trigon, isn't that what we all want?"

"Yes it is," The older warrior sighed, "But like I said, we don't know if this will even work. I wouldn't want anyone to get their hopes up. In fact this plan could very well injure, or even kill you." Bart audible gulped, that didn't seem optimal.

Diana moved her hands to rub the boy's arms in a comforting manner, "Bart, Oracle wanted to wait until the perpetrations were done before telling you anything definitive. I won't go into detail just yet, but I wanted you to know the dangers you may face. The machine Victor is working on won't be completed for at least a few more days. You'll have until it's operational to make your decision."

She tilts his head up to look directly into his eyes, "Just know, no one will think less of you if you decide not to go through with. We all love you Bart. And we want you to be safe." She gives the boy a motherly kiss on the forehead. "Now go and rest. You have much to think about."

But Bart didn't really have to think about it. This is what heroes did, right? Risking their lives to save others. It's why Megan stayed behind; it's why they lost so many since Trigon's rise. Even if whatever the plan is doesn't work, he has to try just on the outside chance it could make a difference. Bart felt resolute in going through doing what he had to in order to stop Trigon...

Until Diana actually brought him to Victor's lab. Saying that you're willing to give your life to the cause is a nice sentiment, but when the time comes to go through with it, you understandably start doubting more than a few decisions. "Are you nervous, Bart?"

"What? Nervous? Pfft..." The young speedster waved the notion off. "Come on, Diana. You know me! Ready for anything!"

Diana just smirked, "You're nervous, aren't you?"

Bart chuckled weakly, "I think I'm gonna puke." His confident smile crumbling as soon as he let his guard down. The older woman smiled softly and put her arm around his shoulder as they continued towards the lab.

When they arrive at Vic's lab, they see the robotic hero putting the finishing touches on what looked like a treadmill. "You made it, good." Vic stood and walked over to the two as a feminine mask-like face appears on the main computer screen.

"So, what is that exactly?" Bart asks genuinely curious.

"That is called the Cosmic Treadmill." Oracle's synthetic voice spoke through the computer's speakers. "Your grandfather used it in combination with his connection to the Speed Force to travel through time."

Bart's head snapped to the mask image on screen with his eyes wide. "Did you just say travel through time?"

"Bart, Oracle and I have gone over this more times than we can count," Diana began, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder, "We can't stop Trigon now. His forces are simply too powerful."

"At this point we're pretty much just fighting the inevitable." Oracle said, continuing the explanation, "Which is why I had Vic and Megan track down, and bring in the remains of the Cosmic Treadmill. The only way to stop Trigon now, is to go into the past, and make sure he never rises to power."

Bart looked between the three adults, (Well, two present adults and the mask on the screen) and asked, "And...I can do that?"

"Well, you are Berry's grandson." Oracle rationalized, "We've watched you grow up before our eyes and you definitely have most of his speed. If there is anyone who can do this it's you Bart."

Bart took a deep breath and nodded to himself. "Alright, alright...So, what do I have to do?"

"Just run." Vic says, walking towards the computer. He types a few commands in, the Oracle mask on the main screen moving to another smaller screen. "We have all the calculations done for when and where you need to go. Assuming I re-build the treadmill correctly, your connection to the Speed Force should send you back about forty years."

"You should appear in Central City, and once you do you have to find Berry." Diana explained, "He's dealt with time traveling speedsters before..."

"Admittedly most tried to kill him at one point or another." Oracle injected.

"Even so..." Diana scowled at the computer screen before turning back to Bart, "I know he'll help you however he can."

"Help me do what, exactly? I mean, how do I stop something like Trigon?"

"You have to find Raven." Oracle stated, "She was the key to Trigon entering our dimension. If you and the Justice League can find and contain Raven, they should be able to prevent her from summoning her father."

"Okay, and by contain her, you do mean kill her, right?"

"No, we don't." Diana said, firmly. "We don't kill, you know that Bart."

Bart takes a deep breath and runs a hand through his hair, "Look, I get the whole, "Don't Kill" thing. We don't kill the guards in the prison, even though they are working for the literal devil and subjugating their own people, and I'm...Okay with that. But this is Raven we are talking about. RAVEN! She's the one who killed the other Titans! Megan and Vic only got away safe through sheer dumb luck. Diana, how many Justice League members did Raven help capture or kill over the years? Are all of you really telling me you don't want me to vibrate into her chest and tear out whatever black husk passes for her heart!?"

None of the three could answer. They all had a reason to want Raven dead, Vic most of all. He didn't even seem that enthused when Diana shot Bart down. "That's what I thought..."

"Look, this is all academic until we know for sure this plan is going to work." Oracle said calmly.

"What do you mean? I thought Vic finished the Treadmill."

"I did," Vic said, typing a few calculations into the computer. "But just because I re-built the thing doesn't guarantee it'll actually work. Considering we need a speedster to make it work, we haven't been able to test it."

"Which is why you're here today." Oracle said. "We have to make sure the Treadmill will send you through time and not...Vaporize you."

Bart stares at Oracle wide-eyed "That-that's a possibility?"

"I pulled every file I could on the Cosmic Treadmill from what's left of the Justice League database...But the only ones who really knew how it worked were Berry and Wally. Without them we were flying blind and without testing it we can't know for sure what effects using the Treadmill could have on you."

Bart looked like he was going to throw up when Diana placed a comforting hand on his back, "I did tell you there were risks, Bart. We will understand if you decide not to go through with this."

Bart looked to Vic, "We can think of something else if we need to. It's alright."

Bart took a deep breath and walk towards the Treadmill, "No, it's okay. If this can stop Trigon, that's all that matters." Diana smiled at the brave boy as he climbed on the Treadmill.

"There is one more thing to take into account, Bart." Oracle said, getting the young speedster's attention. "You were born after Trigon's reign began. If you stop his rise to power, you could very well erase yourself from existence."

Bart just shrugged, "Considering the existence I've had; that honestly doesn't sound too bad. So what now?"

"First we need to see if you can really travel through time." Vic began, "I set the Treadmill to send you one minutes into the future. If everything goes right, you'll skip over the next minute, and we can check your vitals to make sure your spleen is in the right place."

"Right...Okay..." Taking a moment to get himself ready, Bart started running; until a set of explosions shook the entire base. Bart tripped and was thrown off the Treadmill.

"Okay, what was that?"

"Oh god..." Oracle whispered to herself, but being loud enough for the others in the room to hear. "Raven and Harm, they found us!"

"WHAT!?"

"They're leading an army of demons against the compound! I'm sending orders to mobilize right now...But there's...God, there's just so many..."

"So we meet them." Diana said with her legendary confidence and valor, "If this is the day we go to the Elysium Fields, then we do so with honor!"

"Right on, princess!" Vic agreed, his right arm changing into a sonic cannon. "Oracle, we don't have time for the test! Re-calibrate the Treadmill to send Bart to the past!"

"On it." The Amazon and the cyborg rush out to face certain death.

Bart climbed to his feet and walked back to the Treadmill. "Oracle..."

"Barbara..." The digitized mask interrupted, "My name is Barbara. Bart listen: You are our last hope. I know it isn't fair to put so much on someone as young as you. But you're the only one who can stop Trigon now." A crashing sound came from Oracle's side of the speakers. "Oh god...Bart! I have the Treadmill's coordinates set. All you have to do is run! Bart, ru-AAAAGH!"

"Oracle!? Barbara!?"

The line was silent for a moment before a voice that definitely wasn't Oracle's started to speak. "Hello there, speedy. I'm afraid your oracle has been silenced." Harm said, followed by a sinister chuckle.

Bart glared at the mask on screen before hopping back on the Cosmic Treadmill and running full speed. "Strange time to get a little exorcise, don't you think? With all your friends dying around you. Oh dear, it seems the Amazon has just fallen. These cameras make this massacre so much more entertaining when you can watch all the carnage at once."

Bart ignored the psychotic swordsman pushing himself faster and faster as lighting surged around both Bart and the Cosmic Treadmill. "I bet you're wondering how we finally managed to find you filthy rebels." Bart tried to block Harm out, tried to focus only on running as fast as possible. "It isn't surprising that Martians are quite resistant to both physical and mental interrogation. If it makes you feel any better. The Martian does live. If you can really consider being a vegetable living, that is."

Tears stung at Bart's eyes as the door to Vic's lab burst open. Raven floated into the room holding Vic's robotic arm. The demon witch wore a surprisingly elegant dark blue dress with a hood covering most of her face, but her four glowing red eye were still visible. What little skin was visible was an unnatural blood red color. She lifted the arm to her eyes before dropping it, "It took forty years, but it seems the last of the Titans have fallen." The demon spawn's voice held a demonic echo despite the monotone in her inflection. "I suppose I can keep Megan for a pet." Her gaze then fell to Bart, "And what should I do with you?"

"Go. To. Hell." Just as Raven raised her hand towards Bart, a dark red aura surrounding it, his perception of the world around him began to distort as the Cosmic Treadmill rocketed him through the time stream.

Countless events of the last forty years began playing in reverse before Bart's eyes: His friends' death, building their base, training with Diana, his own birth, the downfall of civilization. So much even he couldn't properly process it all.

But then...It all just stopped.

* * *

Bart woke up in a soft patch of grass, with no idea of where he was. He climbed to his feet and looked around. He seemed to be in a park in the middle of the night. He started walking around to figure out exactly where his is.

He eventually ran into a group of teenagers, a boy with brown hair and two girls, one blonde and one red head. "Hey uh...Do you guys know...where we are right now?"

The three teens look at the boy with a fair bit of disgust, the blonde girl asked, "Are you, like, homeless or something?"

Bart looked down at himself, noticing the tattered and dirty clothing he is currently wearing. "Uh, I guess I am? So..."

"Oh, how sad." The red haired girl in the group said with a sympathetic look on her face, "It's hard to believe there are kids our age living on the streets."

"Right, so...Where are we?"

"What are you stupid?" The guy said with a derisive sneer. "We're in the park dude."

"That's...No, I figured that." Bart sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "I mean, are we in Central City?"

"Don't be mean, Jake." The red head swatted the guy's arm. "Yes this is Central City. Are you from out of town?"

"Yeah I'm from...Uh...Huh. I can't really remember where I'm from." The boy said, scratching the back of his head.

"So, you have, like, amnesia or something." The blonde girl asked.

"Do you guys think we should take him to the police or something?" The red head asked "His parents could be looking for him."

"Uh, thanks but that's okay." Bart said, turning down the girl's kind offer. "I just need to find my grandpa. I think...Except I don't really know how."

"Well, you do know his name, right?" The guy, Jake, asked.

Bart thought for a second and the name Berry Allen popped into his head. "Yeah, I think I do."

"Then you just need to find a phone book. You can probably find your grandpa's address like that."

Bart nodded to himself before smiling to the other teens, "Okay, thanks a lot guys. Later!" And with that Bart ran off at top speed, leaving the three kids in the dust.

The kids stared dumbstruck in the direction Bart ran off. "Okay...That happened..."

Bart found one of the few remaining phone booths and got Berry's address. It only took him a few minutes to find where his Grandpa Berry lived. He knocked on the door and waited until a woman answered. "Hi, is Berry Allen here?"

The woman looked at Bart oddly before answering, "Uh, yeah, he's here. Who are you exactly?"

"I'm his grandson!"

The woman's eyes bugged out of their sockets after hearing the boy's claim. "Berry! You need to come to the door!"

"Alright hold on Iris!" A voice called from further in the house.

"You're Iris!?" Bart asked, with a sparkle in his eyes.

"Yeah...?"

"Grandma!" He surged forward and hugged the confused woman as Berry came to the door. "Grandpa!"

The strangest family reunion in history was silently witnessed by a young cloaked figure. Strangely, when she was drawn to Central City it was to a completely different location. But there was something about this boy. Something when she connected to his emotions. On the surface there was hope and joy, but beneath was a deep well of rage. Hatred she wouldn't expect from someone so young.

She could sense that he needed her as much as she needed him.

* * *

So like I said, the chapter is signifigently shorter than the last two. Almost half as many as words as the last one. The next one should be almost as short, if not shorter.

Anyway, I don't actually have much to say this time. It's obvious I took inspiration from Young Justice in Bart's backstory here, but pretty much just replaced Blue Beetle with Raven. And it should be doubly obvious who the mysterious cloaked figure at the end of each chapter is by now.

I'll admit the whole amnesia thing is just there so Bart won't just murder Raven or even warn anyone about her right off the bat. But I tried to make it believible by have Vic and Oracle say there could be some unknown side-effects by using the Cosmic Treadmill.

With the everyone going by there real names, I just figured since the world got fucked by a demon overlord no one would really bother using secret identities or code-names and stuff.

Also it will actually take even longer for the next chapter to come out because someone is actually paying me to write something for them. Why? I'm not totally sure. But if, for whatever reason, you'd like to commission me to write something, you can send me an message me and we'll talk it out.

So that's about it. See ya next time.

Up next: The Spirit


	7. The Spirit

Just on more time, I have to warn y'all there is a fairly gory scene in this chapter.

* * *

The Spirit

Death is something no one ever really thinks about. It certainly didn't occupy much space in Greta Hayes's mind. She, like most of us, acknowledge that someday she will die; after all what is the value of life if it doesn't end at some point? But the nature of death, how she'd die, where she went after, she never really bothered to think about it.

Greta believed in God. Her parents took her to church every Sunday and had the idea of Heaven and Hell pounded into her skull since she was a child, and she always believed that if she was a good girl, she'd go to Heaven at the end. Of course that was when she was little. The older Greta got the more she thought, the more she thought the more she began to doubt her beliefs. Not so much the existence of some kind of God; but Heaven and Hell, angels and demons: they quickly just became fairy tales people told to scare the gullible into accepting faith.

When Greta's parents died, she at the very least accepted the idea that there was some kind of afterlife, if only to comfort herself. She was able get through the grief by focusing on her school work and her chores around the family farm.

Greta's brother, Billy, on the other hand didn't take things as well. He was never the most out going people in the world, but after their parent's death he seemed to withdraw further into himself. He technically owned the farm now since he was the oldest Hayes, but that just seemed to depress him more.

"Come on lazy butt," Greta taunted as she ruffled her older brother's hair, "Do you really have time to sit around smoking? Speaking of which..." She takes the cigarette out of his mouth, "What have I told you about these things?"

Billy takes it back, "That they make me look cool and dangerous?"

"Oh yeah? And how cool will you look when you're forty and breathing through a hole in your neck?"

"Eh, who has time to think that far in the future?" Billy said flashing a charming grin.

Greta shakes her head and sits next to her brother, "Which brings us back to you sitting here wasting time."

"Greta," Billy began, finishing off his smoke and flicking the bud away, "Don't worry about it. I already did all the morning chores."

"Really?" She gave her brother an incredulous look. "Did you feed the chickens?"

"Nice and fat."

"Milk the cows?"

"It's in the fridge."

"Bail the hay?"

"And stacked it."

"Paint the fence?"

"No..." Billy looked at Greta confused, "But that was Jessie's job, not mine."

"Jessie's out sick today. I divided up his chores between everyone else, remember?"

"Oh, right..."

"Billy, is everything okay?" Greta asked, putting a concerned hand on Billy's arm, "You've been really forgetful lately."

The older Hayes runs a hand through his long brunette mane sighing heavily. "I don't know. I've just been having a hard time concentrating ever since..."

"...Mom and dad?" Billy just looked down. "I know how you feel, big brother. I'm honestly not totally sure what I'm doing here. I'm doing my best to keep this place running by thinking about what mom would do...But I'm only sixteen. Why do you think I keep asking the farmhands if I'm doing a good job?"

Billy shook his head, "No, that's not it. At least not all of it."

"So what is it?" Billy just keeps his head down, not looking at his sister. Greta sat with Billy for some time before clapping her hands together, "Alright big brother, what you need is to take your mind off things. I was gonna head into to town and pick up some things. Wanna come with?"

"I don't know, Greta."

"Well I do. So let's go!" The younger Hayes grabs her brother and drags him to the old Pickup parked near the main house.

Greta and Billy's hometown was like a lot of other small farming communities in the country. It only has a population of a thousand or so, the usual family owned shops and markets. It wasn't anything special but the people who lived there were happy.

Greta had to run errands for the most part. After picking up a few odds and ends for the farm, instead of heading back home, Greta stops in front of the local book store. "What are we doing here?" Billy asks.

"To buy a book?"

"I figured."

"So why'd you ask?" Greta asked with a smirk. Billy's unimpressed glare just made her start giggling. "Look, when I'm upset or depressed about something I like to read. It helps me take my mind off of things."

"And you think it'll help me?" Billy asked raising an eyebrow.

Greta shrugged, "I don't know, maybe. I mean it's either this or pot." When he seemed to actually consider the option, "You can't smoke pot, Billy!"

"Alright, alright." He chuckled lightly, "Fine. Let's try this. Who know, it might help." The two Hayes exit the truck and enter the small store. It was a quaint little neighborhood store with a relatively small selection, but what it did carry was pretty good. At least in Greta's opinion. The younger Hayes made a beeline for the romance section as always while Billy roamed through the store, looking for something that grabbed his attention.

He looked through the mystery section, fantasy, sci-fi, even joined his sister in romance for a minute or so. Just when he was about to give up and wait for Greta in the truck, Billy walked by the history section and caught sight of a book with a pentagram on the spine. Curious, he picked the book up and flipped through it for a minute. It turned out to be some kinda spell book, containing pages on how to perform numerous magical spells and rituals. And the way the author described the rituals and how they are performed made it all seem real.

Billy was so enraptured by the tome he failed to notice his sister walking up behind him. "Hey Billy."

The older Hayes was so startled he dropped the book, "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Uh, sorry..." Billy picked the book back up and continued to read though it. "What are you reading?"

"I think it's about magic. Like, real magic."

Greta just scoffed, "Seriously? You believe in that stuff?"

"You don't?" Billy asked incredulously, "With people like Wonder Woman, and Captain Marvel, and Zatanna running around?"

"Oh please. Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel are probably just aliens like Superman."

"And Zatanna?" Billy asked closing the book.

"She's a stage magician." The younger Hayes exasperatedly said. "It's all just tricks, like Batman. Or do you think there really is a vampire beating up criminals in Gotham?"

Billy just rolled his eyes, "Well, whatever. You wanted me to find a book, and I found a book. Can we just go?"

"Fine..." Greta said with a sigh. She and Billy walked to the front of the store to make their final purchase. "Well I find something great today too."

"Let me see." Billy said, pulling Greta's book out of her hands against her protests. "'The Lion's Mistress'? If you keep reading these sappy romance novels your brain's gonna turn to mush."

Greta ripped the book out of her brother's hands, "Hey, don't give me crap about my reading choices Harry Potter."

The siblings playfully bickered until they got to the front desk. "Greta, another love story I presume?" The store owner, an elderly man named Oscar, said with a warm smile as he took Greta and Billy's books.

"You know it. And this is my brother Billy." She gestured to Billy standing next to her. Billy nodded, but said nothing.

"Good to meet you son." Oscar held his hand out and shook Billy's, then went about price checking the two books. "'The Lion's Mistress'. I've heard good things about this one. I'm sure you'll like it." He then took Billy's purchase and froze when he looked at the cover. "Son...Are you sure you want this book?" He asked an odd sort of barely restrained giddiness in his voice.

Billy and Greta glance at each other for a moment, "Uh, yeah...I guess?"

"Ah...good, good. I've been trying to unload this thing for a good while. I'll even give you a fair discount." Oscar said a bit too eagerly. Billy and Greta paid for their books and left the store feeling strangely off-center.

"Is that clerk guy usually like that?" Billy asked on the ride back to the farm.

"No," Greta answered, her brow furrowed in slight confusion, "There was definitely something about Oscar today. Maybe you shouldn't have bought that book."

Billy smirked, "So what, now you think the book is magic?"

"No, I don't think the book is magic." Greta scowled while keeping her eyes on the road, "I just...I don't know. I get this weird feeling from it, okay?"

"Hey, I get it." The older Hayes gently rubs on his little sister's shoulder. "Truth be told, I kinda get a weird feeling from this thing to. But what can I say: I'm curious."

"And things never go wrong because someone was curious." Greta muttered under her breath.

"Look, Greta, whether magic is real or not..."

"...Which it isn't."

"...What are the chances that I of all people could get it to work? My interest in this stuff is just...y'know...Academic."

"If you say so." The rest of the car ride was in silence, but Greta couldn't shake the sense of foreboding from the supposedly magical tome.

Over the next few weeks there had been a noticeable change in Billy's mood. He wasn't as forgetful, he actually did double his work load without being asked, and he often times finished his chores much faster than usual. Much of the melancholy that had been affecting him since their parents died seemed to dissipate.

But he was also more withdrawn than usual. He talked to Greta, but not for very long and never about anything of any real consequence. Most of the time when the work day was done he'd head straight to his room and lock the door behind him. Every once in a while when Greta walked by his room she'd hear Billy chanting something. He could be praying, but she couldn't hear all that well. He also went out most nights but refused to tell Greta where he was going. She was tempted to follow him more than once, but she wasn't about to invade her brother's privacy.

Despite his newly developed secrecy, Billy did seem happier so Greta didn't feel she had the right to complain. But the sense of unease she felt when Billy bought the magic book had never gone away. In fact it only seemed to get stronger as time passed. Eventually Greta did try to bring her concerns to Billy, but he just brushed them off and quickly changed the subject.

Billy's odd behavior continued for more than two months until he knocked on her door early in the morning. The incessant knocking forced Greta out of bed to face her strangely up-beat brother. "Billy? What are you doing, it's not even five yet." She groaned her eyes barely able to focus on the faint, blurry form of her brother.

"Sorry, little sis. I just had something to tell you and it couldn't wait. Believe it or not I actually learned something from that book I bought a while ago."

"You can't be serious." Greta said shaking her head with a tired smile.

"I know how you feel about this magic stuff. But there's something I want to show you and I could only do it today."

"Let me guess..." She said with a yawn, "...Because tonight is a full moon?"

Billy just rolled his eyes, "Laugh all you want. Just come to the barn around ten. Alright?"

Greta thought about it for a moment before shrugging, "Alright, sure. I can get a good laugh when nothing happens."

"Ha ha. Funny." Billy turned to walk down the hall back to his room, "And wear something nice."

Greta sighed contently as she leaned against the doorframe. Whatever Billy had planned for tonight, maybe they'll have an opportunity to actually talk. She was still worried about him and this could be the best chance to understand the changes in Billy. She glanced at the alarm clock near her bed. It was only a few minute until she usually got up. She shrugged and shuffled towards the bathroom to start her day.

The day passed like any other. Nothing that would suggest anything special or unusual was going on. That night Greta did as her brother asked and dressed in one of her best dresses along with a pendent her parents gave her on her last birthday. It was getting colder so she added a light-blue shawl and head towards the barn.

Greta entered the barn just as Billy asked her to, and was shocked and horrified to see two of the farmhands lying on the floor in pools of their own blood. Greta felt the instant urge to throw up after seeing her friends slaughtered. She was so scared she couldn't even scream right away. Not until she backed into a solid body which held her down with one strong arm. Greta screamed and thrashed until her captor pressed a chloroform dowsed rag onto her nose and mouth. Greta was only able to struggle for a few more seconds before she passed out.

She wasn't sure how long she was asleep, but eventually Greta woke up to the sound of Billy saying something in a language she didn't understand. Once she was a little more aware of her surroundings she also realized she was tied to the floor of the barn with her arms and legs stretched into a cross. She was lying in the middle of a pentagram that she hoped was made with red paint.

"Oh, you're awake." Billy walked into Greta's line of sight holding the spell book.

"B-Billy? W-what's going on? What are you doing?"

"I told you Greta," He said with an inappropriately kind smile. "I wanted to show you something. You see, this book has taught me so much in such a short time. You were wrong, by the way. Magic is very real." As he said this, Billy levitated a small knife on a table into his hand.

Greta followed the knife through the air with her eyes in awe and fear. "Wha...?H-how?"

"It wasn't easy, but I had help. Turns out there was more to Oscar than a simple small business owner. He's studied magic for decades, but he was getting older. He put this book on the shelves hoping someone would come along and continue his studies."

"What are you gonna do? Why am I tied up like this?"

Billy opened the book and flipped through a few pages, "Magic isn't the easiest thing in the world to learn. It takes years to master certain spells, but I have learned to achieve small feats. There is, however, a way to obtain unimaginable power. And all I need to do is sacrifice my closest loved one."

Greta's eyes widened in horrified shock, "Billy, you can't be serious."

"I'm afraid I am, Greta. I was lost after mom and dad died. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life; I just knew I didn't want to spend the rest of it on this farm." Billy kneeled down next to Greta. "But when I found this book; I found my destiny. I know who I am, and who I'm supposed to serve. And I owe it all to you." He stood, re-opened the book, and began reading from it while circling Greta.

Whatever language he was speaking Greta didn't understand a word of it. As he read, the pentagram began to glow. After finishing the incantation, Billy stood over Greta with the knife in his hand. "Only one thing left. Just know I truly do love you Greta." He kneels down again and raises the knife high.

"Billy, please! Don't! Please!"

Billy plunges the knife into Greta's chest. She screams and pleads for Billy to stop as he craves the knife through her sternum. Blood gushes from the young girl's chest as her brother apathetically opens her up. After the most excruciating pain imaginable, Greta stops screaming and her head lulled back; the lights leaving her eyes.

Once her chest was opened enough, Billy reached in and tore out Greta's still beating heart. "By blood the old bond is severed. By blood the new bond is formed." He gathers blood from his sister's heart on his finger and draws a sigil on his forehead. The blood burns its way into his flesh, but he endures it knowing the payoff will be worth the pain.

When the pain passes, Billy stands up and flexes his blood soaked hands. He walks over to a post and punches through it with ease. Chuckling to himself, Billy continues to test his new found strength by tossing a broken down hatchback through the barn wall.

"It worked! Just like he said!" Billy throws his arms into the air laughing in triumph. He was now that much closer to fulfilling his destiny. He returns to Greta's lifeless body and reverently closes her eyes. "Thank you, Greta."

Billy wrapped Greta's body up in a blanket before setting the barn and their house on fire. Once the last vestiges of Billy's old life were reduced to cinders, he buried Greta in the ashes of their home.

After the impromptu burial, he bleeds a chicken into a brass goblet. He said a brief Latin phrase causing ripples in the blood. "Master, I've completed the ritual."

A deep, booming voice came from the goblet in response, "And you completed the ritual fully? Even burning your sister's body?"

Billy hesitated for only a second, "Yes master. Of course."

If Trigon noticed the hesitation, he didn't make it known to his disciple, "Very good, Billy. From now on my strength will be your strength; and you will be my herald. You will paint this world in blood in the name of Trigon!"

"Of course, master."

"Very well. Then I have a mission for you Billy."

"Yes, master. But if I'm to be your herald, I will not longer be Billy Hayes. From this point on I am Harm."

Trigon chuckled darkly, "Very well, Harm. You will find my daughter, Raven. And you will bring her to my side. Even if you must force her to do so."

"Yes, Master. Where can I find her?"

"My seers have told me she will be found in the city of New York."

"Yes master, I will leave immediately."

"Hold, Harm..." Harm stopped in the middle of getting up, "Before you can find my daughter, you will need something..."

* * *

The Midway City Museum was home to many interesting artifacts from around the world. Pottery from Greece, conopic jars from Egypt, statues from Italy; a whole array of historic knowledge for the young and old alike to enjoy. And most of the security guards keeping the place safe at two in the mourning don't really care. Guarding a museum in the middle of the night is probably one of the cushiest security jobs you could get. Who tries to rob a museum?

A guard makes his rounds walks through the new Demonology Exhibit, thoroughly creeped out by the stuff on display. Taking a passing glance at some weird statue, he suddenly heard something like a feint voice. At first it was hard to understand and he just chalked it up to the air conditioning, but eventually it became clear _, Run. Get away._

The guard quickly turned to look around the room, but didn't see anything. _It's not safe here. Run, please._

"Ah great. Now I'm hearing voices. Just like Aunt Juju."

 _You have to run. Go. Now. Please._

The guard slowly backed out of the exhibit, looking around and hoping the voice he's hearing isn't just in his head. "Okay, just get out of here, and book an appointment with a therapist."

"Oh I wouldn't bother." Before the guard could react, Harm snaps his neck from behind. He steps over the guard's body and makes his way to a display case with a sword resting inside.

In the monitoring room, another guard is playing Hearthstone on his iPad instead of paying attention to the wall of security monitors. _Someone's in the museum._ The sudden voice caused the guard to topple over in his chair. _Someone's in the museum. In the Demonology Exhibit._ The guard looks around for a moment then turns to the monitors to see the Demonology Exhibit empty.

"Uh, t-there's no one in there?" The guard said, not totally sure who or what he's talking to.

 _It's a trick. Call the police, now!_

"S-sure...Alright...But, uh what are you, exactly?"

 _A secret. Call the police._

The guard looked around one more time while reaching for the phone, "Okay, okay, I uh...Think I'll just send some guys down there first. And check things out?"

 _No! Too dangerous. Call the police before it's to late!_

"O-okay?" Not sure what's been talking to him, the guard decided to trust he isn't nuts and calls the police like the voice told him.

Harm smashes the display case holding the sword Trigon told him about. With the Sword of Sameal, Harm's power would increase even further. There would be no stopping him with it.

He grabbed the sword and drew it from its sheath. He examined the blade; it was a three and a half foot Viking style long sword with glowing runes etched into the obsidian blade. He swings in experimentally a few times before sheathing it and walking out of the museum.

Harm was only half-way down the museum steps when a squad of police cars parked in front of him. One of the officers stepped out with a bullhorn, "Son, we got a call about a break in here. Know anything about that?" Harm just smirked and drew his sword again. More of the cops step out and trained their hand guns on Harm. "Alright, drop the sword, and put your hands in the air!"

"Well I did want to try this puppy out. So I don't think I will." Harm reared back and swung, sending a wave of flaming energy towards the cops. He blew up one of the cars, and the others opened fire on the mad swordsman. Harm deflected all the bullets with the sword and jumped in the air, covering several feet and planting the sword into the ground as he landed in front of another cop car. Energy swelled beneath the ground before erupting in a column of fire, engulfing both the car and the officers.

Harm ran towards the remaining police car, dodging or deflecting more gun fire, and sliced through the cops and the car in one swing.

"A rather successful test I'd say." He claimed calmly while wiping the blade on the sleeve of his coat. Harm sheathed his sword and slung it over his shoulder. He smiled wickedly, surveying the destruction he caused, then walked off in to the night.

When Harm had left the scene, Greta walked through the destroyed cars and dead bodies. She still wore the same dress she died in but they were absent of any color. She had underestimated Harm. She didn't think he could do this much damage, or that the sword could make him this much stronger.

More squad cars converged on the area and set up a crime scene; apparently one of the police officers managed to call for back up during the attack. While blocking off the street, Greta over heard one of the cops asking another, "Just what the hell happened here?"

 _I failed._ Greta walked through the crime scene invisible to all around her in the same direction as Harm. She needed to keep an eye on him.

* * *

And there you have it, the goriest chapter in the story. It shouldn't be to surprising that Secret is in this story considering Harm was in Bart's dark future. I'm not sure why I had Billy and Greta living on a farm before the shit goes down. I just put it in. And I always planned for Harm to be a major villain in this story and having him make a pact with Trigon just seemed to make sense to me.

Raven didn't appear at the end of this one, and I'll explain why later.

Up next: The Warrior.


	8. The Warrior

The Warrior

* * *

Sunlight beamed through the open balcony, accompanied by the sounds of tropical birds singing in the morning. The sun shines in the face of the young girl sleeping in the massive canopy bed. She turns away from the sun and pulls the covers over her shoulder to get just a few more minutes of sleep.

She didn't get much more sleep before her hand maid, a rather rotund, red haired woman named Chara entered her room, "Princess Donna? It's a beautiful day. You should really see it with you own eyes."

The young princess groans and pulls the covers completely over her head, "I can't. My eyes are busy seeing my dreams."

The maid just laughs softly, "Very well, princess. I will just tell your mother to cancel your birthday celebration. You just get some rest." And turned to leave the room.

Donna sat up in her bed with a wide smile, "That's right! It's my birthday!" She jumps out of bed and run out of her room passed the maid, "Come on, Chara! We have a busy day to prepare for." Chara smiles and shakes her head as she follows the young princess to the bath house.

Donna and Chara enter the bath house and are greeted by a number of maids. They strip Donna out of her nightgown and lead her into a large circular stone pool filled with steaming water and a thin layer of frothy bubbles. The maids gently scrub the young princess's deceptively delicate skin. Like her older sister, and all other Amazons, Donna had been trained since she was a child to be a warrior and as a result she was in peak physical condition for her age. However, a thorough skin care regiment kept her skin soft, and faded most of the scars she received from her training.

At the tender age of thirteen, Donna's body, however physically perfect, had yet to mature in any obvious ways. She was a bit jealous of her other sisters. They were all beautiful and developed in all the right ways. And because they were all thousands of years old, they probably didn't remember feeling the way see does now.

After washing her hair, one of the maids begin combing through Donna's long dark brown hair. Once it was determined the princess was clean enough, the maids lead Donna out of the bath and dried her off, keeping her warm with a soft white robe. Donna left the bath house and walked to her wardrobe. Chara and a few other maids dressed Donna in a beautiful toga and gold jewelry, and braided her hair into a pony tail that came down to the small of her back. They also gave her a small bit of make-up just to make her gray-blue eyes pop a bit more.

Once the princess was ready for the day, Chara escorted Donna to the dinning hall to have breakfast with her mother. On the way, Donna notice the Amazon general Philipus sitting in the palace gardens reading a book. She also noticed a tree in the garden with a branch near one of the windows in the hallway. A mischievous smile found it's way on Donna's face and jumped onto the windowsill nearest the tree.

Chara turned when she realized the princess wasn't following her anymore and gasped at the sight of the girl preparing to leap out of the window. "P-princess...I..."

Donna shushes her and jumps on to the branch. She slowly makes her way to the trunk and jumps out of the tree, silently landing in a crouch. She hides behind a line of bushes, moving with cat-like prowess to sneak behind the great general. Once she was positioned behind her, Donna jumps over the hedge, clearing it effortlessly, and soundlessly rolling to a stop. She stalks closer and closer to Philipus, until she is within striking distance. She pounces at Philipus, who grabs her without looking, and throws her to the ground; landing on her back and knocking the wind out of her.

"Happy birthday, princess. I hope you have had a pleasant morning." The Amazon general said, eyes still engrossed in her book.

Donna coughs, and with a slight rasp in her voice, asks, "How long did you know I was here?"

"Since you jumped out the window." She said, finally closing her book. The general wore polished, golden bronzed armor with red under-mail, which stood out well with her chocolate skin, and hazel colored eyes. She also wore a unadorned golden crown around her high top fade cut. She stood and helped Donna to her feet, the girl barely coming to her stomach. Philipus was easily the most physically imposing Amazon on the island. She was close to 6"5' and well built muscular frame.

The general couldn't help but notice her downcast expression. "I wouldn't be too upset that your attack failed, Donna. Against anyone else, you would have caught them completely off guard."

"But not the Great Philipus, right?"

The general just shrugs with a smug grin. She looks up to the window Donna jumped out of, and sees the red-haired hand maid looking down at them with a tired smile. Being the personal care taker of a now teen aged princess would ware on anyone's nerves. "I think you misplaced something, Chara."

The hand maid just waves the general off, "Come now, Philipus. I would genuinely like to see you keeping our incorrigible little princess in line. I honestly doubt even Zeus himself could keep her from wondering off."

"I'm standing right here!"

Both of the older Amazons laughed, then Philipus turned back to Chara, "Why don't you head to the dining hall? The queen should still be there. I will escort the princess the rest of the way."

Chara nods, "Well then, I shall see you both in a few moments." And she walks away from the window. Donna and Philipus leave the garden as well, making their way to dine with Donna's mother.

"I meant what I said earlier, Donna." Phillipus said after awhile. "Your attack would have been successful against most any other."

"Really?"

"Yes, your skills are greatly improving."

They walked in silence for a bit before Donna spoke again, "So...do you think the gods will bless me soon?"

A pensive look grew on Phillipus's face, "That is not for me to say, Donna. I cannot speak for the gods."

"But I've already spoken to Menalippe, mother, even Diana." The young girl said looking downcast. "None of them were able to tell me when or even if I will be blessed as Diana was. I have never been able to even hear their voices during prayer, like our sisters. Have...Have I done something to upset the gods?"

"No." Phillipus stops in the middle of the corridor and kneels down in front of Donna. "Donna, you are a brave and noble young woman, and have served the gods well. Even If you are never blessed with the same powers as your sister, know that you will forever be a blessing to the Amazons."

Donna tightly hugs the great general, "Thank you, Phillipus."

Phillipus returns the hug fully, "No thanks needed, princess." She kisses her on the head, stands, and continues to escort Donna to the dinning hall.

Entering the large room, they see that Chara had already made her way to Queen Hippolyta's side. The Great Amazon Queen Hippolyta was known through out the ancient world as one of the most powerful warriors to walk the Earth. Under her leadership, the Amazon nation knew defeat only once in the long centuries, when a moment of personal weakness on Hippolyta's part allowed Hercules to capture and enslave the Amazons. Her weakness, however, was only temporary. She regathered her sisters behind her and rose against their captors; defeating Hercules and leading the Amazon nation to the island that would eventually become Themyscira. Despite her failure, here she sat; beautiful and proud, with an entire island of highly trained warriors completely loyal to her.

The great queen's skill in battle could only be matched by her immaculate beauty. Hippolyta is the spitting image of Diana, only a decade or so older. She had long luscious black hair and fierce blue eyes. Like most all Amazons, Hippolyta's body is what one would imagine a Greek goddess would have. Tall and slender, but also powerful and muscular. She seemed to be the physical embodiment of feminine strength.

Donna walks over to the queen and kisses her cheek, which she returns, though barely taking her eyes off the parchments in her hands. "Good morning mother," The princess says brightly while taking a set next to her mother.

"Good morning, and happy birthday, dear."

"What are you reading?"

"Proposals." Hippolyta replies simply, "Since Diana has been living in Man's World for almost two years now and seems insistent on staying, she has decided to become an official ambassador between us and the country of America." Hippolyta places the parchments down as servants arranged plates full of food in front of the Amazon royalty. "As a fact finding mission, members of the American leadership will be visiting Themyscira to better understand our way of life. We will soon after send a small number of Amazons to Gateway City where the embassy will be built. I, of course, will join them."

"So, there will be men on Themyscira?"

The queen nodded, while taking the first few bites of her breakfast, "The first since Steve Trevor left our shores. I have been receiving proposals and recommendations on who should be allowed to visit for the last few days." She gestured to the papers lying on the table. "I will admit to wanting all the visiting delegates to be women. However Diana was adamant on at least some men being allowed on the island...And I do see her point. Only welcoming women would seem to be a counter-productive action."

Donna hummed softly while chewing on a piece of bacon, "Well...Steve Trevor was nice. Maybe it won't be so bad having more men on the island. At least for a while."

"Perhaps... Though, I am still a bit wary. Even of Diana's new allies in the Honor League-"

"Justice League, mother."

"...Ah, yes, Justice League. Thankfully only two of them will accompany her. The Super-man and the Bat-man, I believe."

"I remember Diana talking about them. She said they were both honorable warriors."

Phillipus's audible scoff caught the two royals attention, "Phillipus, Diana trusts these men;" Hippolyta admonished, "They deserves the benefit of the doubt."

"Of course, my queen." The general bowed her head. "My apologies." Hippolyta nodded, but briefly took hold of Phillipus's hand. The general's lips twitched into a sly smile; Donna just rolled her eyes.

"Now let us talk of other matters," The queen said with a warm smile, "Like your birthday celebration tonight."

Philipus clears her throat, drawing attention to her, "My queen, I was hoping to discuss something with you about Donna's birthday...In private."

Hippolyta cocked an eyebrow at the general, but acquiesced none the less. She stood, told her daughter to hold the thought, and followed her long time right hand to the other side of the

room.

Donna tried her best to focus on eating, but couldn't help but glance towards the discussion between her mother and Philipus. She had seen scenes like this throughout most of her life, so it wasn't hard for her to figure out they were talking about something delicate. Philipus will bring the issue up as gently as possible. Depending on how strong she feels about it, mother will become increasingly defensive. Arms folded, looking away...Oh; turning away completely. This must be serious.

Okay, Philipus trying to lower her guard. Mother being stubborn. Then comes Philipus turning tender. Soft words, gently touches, sweet kisses. Aaaaaand the great queen has just dropped her guard.

The queen and her general walk back towards the table. Hippolyta stops before sitting back down, "You are all dismissed," She announces to the room, "I must speak to my daughter alone."

The guards and servants look at each other quickly before filing out of the room, even Chara and Philipus depart. Once the dining hall was empty, Donna turned to Hippolyta as she re-took her seat, "Is something wrong?"

The Amazon queen was silent for a moment, "Not...Wrong, dear. However, what I am about to tell you may be distressing." Donna became visibly worried, but said nothing. Allowing her mother a moment of mental preparation. Hippolyta took a deep breath before speaking, "Donna, you should know that...Diana's departure with Steve Trevor was not the first time she left Themyscira. When she was a bit older than you, Diana decided to travel to Man's World. Like you, she had heard many stories of the cruelty of the outside world, but still insisted on seeing it with her own eyes.

"In the dark of night, Diana took possession of a small boat and made her way to the closest harbor city. From what she told me, she found comrodery with a group of young women her age, and spent the night enjoying herself. Two guards discovered Diana had snuck out and tracked her down. However, as they returned to the boat Diana stole, she heard the cry of a small child. In the garbage of a filthy alley, she found a baby girl abandoned by her mother.

"Diana took the child in her arms and pleaded with the guards to take her with them to Themyscira. They insisted that the baby be left with the local authorities; however Diana said that she could not sleep at night, not knowing if the baby was safe and happy, 'And who better to raise a young woman than the Amazons?' As Diana put it." The queen pause slightly with a motherly smile.

"By the next dawn, Diana returned home, with a new born in her arms. To said I was confused would be putting it lightly. However, after explaining what happen in the outside city, I understood and accepted Diana's actions. I would later punish her for leaving the island, but the first concern was the well-being of the baby.

"She was taken to the Island of Healing to be treated for any injuries or illness she may have contracted before Diana managed to find her. Once the baby's good health was clear, it was decided she would remain on Themyscira to be raised as an Amazon. All that remained was to give her a name. Diana named her after the dear friend she made the night the baby was found: Donna."

Donna stared at the Amazon Queen in stunned silence, slowly processing the information she just heard. "I-I'm not an Amazon?"

"Of course you are, dear." Hippolyta tried to reach out and touch Donna's hand, but the princess jerked away and stood out of her seat.

"But I'm not! I...You said I was made from clay like Diana."

The queen stood as well, taking a few steps towards Donna, "I know what I told you, but..."

Donna backed away as Hippolyta tried to get closer, "Then why lie? Why didn't you just tell me the truth?"

The queen sigh heavily, "Because I wanted you to have someone you could relate to." She looked directly into her daughter's eyes, silently pleading her to understand, "When Diana was growing up, despite how loved she was by the other Amazons, she always felt different; alienated from her sisters. I hoped that if you believed you and Diana had the same origin of birth, you would have at least one person you could share a real kinship with. I just didn't want you to feel alone. I did not expect you to find a new pain in lue of loneliness."

"I..." Donna began, "I mean, I guess I get that. But...I'll never be blessed? I'll never be as strong or agile as our sisters? I always thought there was something wrong with me because I couldn't hear the voices of the Gods. And now I know why. I'm not an Amazon."

Hippolyta kneels in front of the young girl, "Yes you are. You may not have been born on the island; but you are as much an Amazon as myself or Diana. You are my daughter, and I love you. I am so sorry for deceiving you. Just know, I only did so out of love." Donna just nodded, but said nothing as Hippolyta pulled her into a hug. While stiff at first, Donna eventually lifted her arms around her and melted into her mother's arms.

The warmth of her mother and the smell of her perfume brought tears to Donna's eyes. In her heart, Donna knew what her mother was saying is true. She may have been born in the outside world, but that doesn't make her any less of an Amazon in the eyes of her sisters. She knew that from how she had been treated through out her entire life. She had only been shown love and encouragement from the other Amazons.

The royal family stayed in embrace for a good while, until a guard barged in. Hippolyta pulled away from Donna but continued to kneel next to her. "I believe I said I wished to be alone with my daughter."

The queen's fierce gaze caused the guard to take a step back before speaking, "M-my

apologies, my queen. However, Alyka has urgently requested an audience with both you and Princess Donna in the Mirror of Wisdom's chamber."

Hippolyta stood and took Donna's hand. "And what from the outside world could possibly warrant our attention so intensely?"

"Alyka said it concerned Princess Diana. That...It could mean her death."

Hippolyta and Donna glance at each other quickly before following the guard to the Mirror chamber. As they exited the dinning hall, they passed Phillipus diligently standing near the doors, "My queen, what has happened?"

"Diana is in danger." Hippolyta said tersely, not breaking stride. That was all Philipus needed to hear before following the queen and princess.

The Mirror of Wisdom was a gift to the Amazons from the goddess Athena. After they began re-building the Amazon nation, Athena gave the mirror to the Amazons so they may continue observing the outside world if they chose to. The sage Alyka was tasked by Hippolyta to monitor the mirror, and chronicle the events of Man's World. She bore witness to empires raise and fall, prejudice and strife, and two global wars. She also witnessed kindness and generosity in the world. Alyka is one of the few Amazons who fully supported Princess Diana's mission.

Ever since Diana left Themyscira, Hippolyta had instructed Alyka to keep a watchful eye on her. Just in case a day such as this were to come. Hippolyta, Donna, and Philipus rush into the chamber while the mirror focused on Diana battling a man with white hair and a black and green costume. And it appeared she was losing.

The royal mother stands in front of the mirror, watching her daughter being beaten within an inch of her life. "Who is this creature?" She asked, to no one in particular.

The old sage answered, "His name is Neron. Some kind of demon. I have seen him a few times in the past, and he is not to be trifled with. He has such great evil power, I fear even Princess Diana may not have the strength to defeat this monster."

Hippolyta continued to stare at the mirror, unable to look away from the horror it showed. Tears stung at her eyes as her oldest daughter struggles simply to stay alive.

Donna looks in disbelief at the demon choke slamming Diana repeatedly into the ground. "Isn't someone going to do something?" She looks around the room, some Amazons unable to look away from their princess dying, others unable to stand seeing it; leaving the room completely, or looking to a sister for comfort.

"Mother, we have to do something!"

"What would we do, Donna?" Hippolyta said, deceptively calm. With only a slight quiver in her voice, the great queen continued, "They is no way for us to mobilize an army and sail to

Diana's side before the inevitable happens. This is merely what all warriors risk when entering combat." Hippolyta takes a deep breath, "All we can do, is wait and pray Diana finds peace in the Elsyium Fields."

Donna turns back to the mirror for all of two seconds before running full speed out of the room. "Donna!" Hippolyta calls for her daughter, but is held back by Philipus.

"Let her go, Hippolyta. She just needs time to grieve."

The great queen watched Donna run out of the room before continuing to watch the battle in the mirror. "Stay by my side, will you?"

Philipus hold Hippolyta close, "Of course, my queen."

As soon as Donna left the mirror chamber, she ran full speed, non-stop, to the Parthenon. She bursts into the ancient temple and storms towards Melanippe, the temple oracle adorned in a green hooded robe, who greets her with some concern, "Hello, your highness. What troubles you today?"

"I need to speak to the gods." Donna pushes past the oracle into the Hall of the Gods. The Hall of the Gods is the main public area of the Parthenon. It holds statutes of the twelve Olympians, each at least twenty feet tall, as well as a number of smaller shrines to other gods so an Amazon can give praise to the god she wished to receive a blessing from or thank for some good fortune she had encountered. Donna, however, didn't intend to do either.

The young princess stomped into the large room surprising the temple maidens taking care of the place. Melanippe ran to catch up with the princess, "Your highness, please calm down. What is this all about?"

"The gods have forsaken my sister! And I want to know why!"

"Princess Diana? What-"

"She's going to die!" Donna interrupted, shocking both the oracle, and the temple maidens. "Diana is going to die and the gods are doing nothing to help her!"

"Well, that's not exactly...I mean, the gods take care not to interfere with mortals, highness."

"But they gave Diana her powers, they her made her their champion! It is their mission she's dying to fulfill!" She turns to the statutes, "It's your fault My sister is dying! Your fault she's never around anymore! You chose her to protect the world, but when she needs to be protected, you do nothing! You have to help her! Please! It's you fault she's in this mess!" Donna falls to her knees as tears of frustration, unbridled sadness and impotent rage cascade down her face, "Please...Save my sister...Please..."

Melanippe ushered the temple maidens into the antechamber while Donna raged against the gods. She was about to try and calm the girl down, out of fear the gods may try to harm her.

However, as she broke down into tears, the oracle decided to let her mourn. She just needed to vent her frustrations. She just hoped the gods wouldn't take the princess's words to seriously. Melamippe left the room and closed the door, leaving the princess sobbing on the ground, surrounded by the patrons of the island. "What's the point? The gods can't hear me..."

Donna wasn't sure how long she'd been crying before she heard the voice of another woman in the room, "Oh, poor sweet child." Donna looked up and around the room quickly to find the source of the voice. "Such pain and anguish. Only true love can come from such agony." Donna turned to the statutes, eventually her eyes landed on the statute of Aphrodite. Unlike the other goddesses who all wore long, beautiful robes or dresses, Aphrodite was completely naked save for a ribbon wrapped around her arms and shoulders. Her hair was tied into three thick braids coming down to her knees tied off with ribbons and flowers.

Donna stares at the statute for nearly a minute before it's stone face turns towards the princess with a warm smile, "Hello, Donna of Themyscira."

Donna stared at the statute in stunned silence, "Lady Aphrodite..." She finally said reverently, kneeling down before the goddess. "I-I'm sorry for yelling. I was j-just-"

The goddess giggling seductively caused Donna to pause and look up to her. "Now that was something. I don't think I've ever seen Zeus so red faced before." Donna looked down trying to look apologetic, even though she really wasn't. She wanted to talk to the gods, and here she was talking to a god. "Oh, I wouldn't worry about him." Donna looks up at the goddess again, "Hera is particularly fond of you Amazons, and after all the shit Zeus has pulled through out the eons he's not about to smite any of you. Now stand up, let me have a proper look at you."

Donna hesitantly stood as Aphrodite commanded, "Spin for me?" She did so as well. Aphrodite smiled and hummed to herself, "So young, and already so beautiful. You are going to be a knock out when you get older."

"Uh...Thank you?" Donna wasn't sure what to say. On one hand, she was always told to show respect to the gods; on the other she didn't think Aphrodite could be much help in this situation. She was hoping for Athena, Artemis, or Nike. A warrior who could help Diana fight the demon. But how useful could a love goddess be against such a powerful enemy?

"My Lady I...I'm a little surprised to see you here. I've never heard the god's voices before and for a long time I thought it was because something was wrong with me. It was only today that I found out it was because I'm not an Amazon." Donna looked down, still trying to wrap her mind around that fact.

"It's true, you lack the natural connection your sisters have to us." The goddess said, placing her hand on her hips, "So I had to take more drastic measures to talk with you." She gestured to the stone body she was now speaking through.

"Well, thank you, my Lady." Donna bowed her head respectively. "So...Does this mean you will

help Diana?" She said with cautious optimism in her voice.

The Statute goddess cocked her hips to the side and place a hand under her chin, humming quietly to her self. "Well...Yes and no." The princess gave the goddess a confused look, "I've always liked Diana. She has a very special place in my heart...And bed."

Donna grimaced, "Didn't need to hear that."

"Seeing her dying at the hands of this demon is difficult. But we gods have agreed to no longer directly interfere with the lives of mortals." Aphrodite then smiles brightly at Donna. "And then you come along, your heart so full of love for your sister. While it is true, many on Olympus were angered by your words; I understood the true power behind them. We both want Diana safe; but I can do nothing to help her...So you must act in my stead."

"Me!?" The princess said, shocked by the love god's words.

"You prayed to be blessed as Diana was. And now you will be. Unfortunately, you will not have the strength Diana possesses. After all, Diana's strength comes from the Earth itself. But you will have the power to save your sister." Aphrodite opened her arms towards Donna.

A light seemingly with out a source shone down on the young girl. She closed her eyes as she felt her body becoming lighter, as if she were floating. She felt every nerve ending in her body tingle. It wasn't painful or uncomfortable, in fact it felt incredibly good. It felt like her whole body were being touched and caressed by soft, tender, passionate hands. It's what she imagined sex was like.

When the sensation ended, Donna looked down at her body and notice her feet weren't touching the ground anymore. Panicking slightly, she began flailing her arms around while twisting and turning in mid-air, trying her best to find some sense of balance. Aphrodite's melodic laugh brought Donna's attention back to the statute. "Learning to fly isn't exactly easy is it?"

"Uh, no. I'm surprised Diana is able make it look so simple." The princess said, barely able to stay up right.

The goddess shrugged, "She's had years to learn this. You, unfortunately, do not have that luxury. You must make hast to your sister's side."

Donna finally managed to get her feet back on the ground, "Okay, fine. But I don't know where she is."

Aphrodite just smirked, "Don't you? Just close your eyes, and concentrate on Diana."

Donna cocked an eyebrow, but did as the goddess instructed. After a moment, she saw Diana in her mind fighting for her life, then the city the battle took place in, then the exact path she could take from this temple to the battle.

She opened her eyes with a gasp, "I know where she is!" Donna lifted herself off the ground, but before she could fly out of the room Aphrodite stopped her.

"Before you go, Donna. I have one more gift for you." The goddess tore off a piece of the stone ribbon around her body. As she did, the ribbon changed from stone into a glowing blue rope. Once the piece of ribbon was torn off completely, it bore an obvious resemblance to Diana's Lasso of Truth.

Aphrodite held the new lariat out for Donna to take. "This is the Lasso of Persuasion. As unbreakable as the golden lariat of Truth, it instead has the power to force anyone in it's embrace to do as you command. So long as your will is stronger."

Donna took the lasso and bowed her head, "Thank you, my Lady."

Aphrodite smiled at the girl one more time, "Remember, Donna of Themyscira: Demons like Nuron hate truth and love, more than anything else." And with those last words of wisdom, the goddess returned to lifeless stone.

Donna takes a deep breath then turns to leave the Hall of Gods. While a bit wobbly, she managed to make it out of the room. Amidst surprised and confused looks from the others in the temple, Donna steadily gained more stability and speed in her flight. Soaring over Themyscira, many Amazons mistook the young princess for her older sister as she pushed against the sound barrier; shattering it, and creating a massive sonic boom after clearing the island's shores.

Had this been any other situation, Donna would have been absolutely over the moon at this moment. It was what she wanted for as long as she could remember. To have the same powers as her sister: To have strength surpassing Hercules; speed rivaling Hermes. To fly though the air like a bird. And she was sure that later she'd have time to enjoy the pure freedom of flight. Now, however, she had a mission and there was nothing that could stop her from completing it.

With the new found mental connection between her and Diana, Donna knew exactly where to find her sister. However she also knew that Diana was hanging on by a thread. She pushed herself even further, rocketing over oceans, fields, and cities until she could finally see the battle, Neron standing over Diana about to deliver the final blow. Not slowing down she flew right into the demon, sending both her fists into his face.

Donna drove Neron into the ground then backed off. She whipped her lasso around his neck, "Stay away..." pulled him into the air and slammed him into the ground again. "...From my sister!"

Neron, finally getting his bearings, tries to blast Donna out of the sky with green demonic energy. She deftly dodges the attack and punches him right in the face. She sends him back flying the length of the lasso, then pulls him back directly into her fist. The attack send Neron flying out of the lasso and he crashes into a nearby building.

Donna flies to Diana's side to check on her. "Diana! Are you alright? Say something!"

Diana groans and struggles to open her eyes. She focuses on her sister and a confused look crosses her bruised face. "Donna?" The younger princess nods with a relieved smile. "How...? Where did you come from?"

"Don't worry about it. I'm here to help you, that's all that matters." Neron climbs out of the rubble and walks slowly towards them. "Just watch." Donna says to her sister with a cocky grin.

She flies towards the demon despite Diana's protests. Donna hovers unevenly in front of Neron while he chuckles darkly, "So Wonder Woman has a sister? I guess I get to kill two princesses today." He smiles sadistically. "Fun."

"Sorry that's not going to happen." Donna rocket forward to punch Neron, but the demon side-steps her and grabs her dress. He smashed her into a crumbling wall and throws her to the ground. Neron attempts to stomp Donna into the ground, but she blocks it with her bracelets.

However, in doing so she immediately realizes the substantial gap in their strength. "Oh right...Not as strong as Diana." Neron raises his foot and brings it down on Donna once again, pushing her further into the ground.

Diana came rushing in, seemingly with new found strength, slicing Neron with her sword. The demon stumbles back, setting the younger princess free as Diana continues to press her attack. Despite getting a few good cut in on him, Diana's fatigue came crashing back on her; slowing her movements and weighting down her swings. Neron knocked the blade out of her hands and punches her down.

The glowing blue lasso wraps around Neron's neck and the demon looked behind him to see the younger Amazon holding onto the rope tightly, teeth bared and harsh glower on her face. "You will leave this place, and never return!"

Neron cocked an eyebrow before grabbing the lasso, pulling it hard, sending Donna flying toward him, and punching her in the face. He pulls the lasso off and carelessly tosses it to the side before turning his attention back to the downed Wonder Woman.

Donna sits up again and pulls her lasso back, "I guess that would have just been too easy." She supposed it made sense a demon this powerful would have a stronger will than a thirteen year old girl. She still had to at least try.

Donna looks around to find anything that could help her sister, and spotted Diana's sword laying discarded on the ground. She grabs the sword and hacks Neron's hand off. He screams in pain, grabbing the stump of his right hand as green smoke streams from it, then slams his fist into Donna's face before she could attack again. Through dazed, Donna holds on to the sword and flies toward Neron again. She barely avoids another punch and stabs him in the

ribs; then drags the blade across his chest leaving a gaping wound. More green smoke bellows from the gash, but before Donna could move to attack again, Neron grabs her by the leg with a newly re-grown right hand and throws her to the ground. Not taking any chances this time, he immediately stomps Donna into the dirt repeatedly.

Diana pulls Neron into a choke hold and tosses him over her shoulder. She flies after him, punching him a few times to knock him higher into the air before using whatever strength she has left to smash him back to Earth hard enough to leave a crater.

She flies back to check on Donna, who hadn't moved since Neron curb-stomped her. "Donna? Donna, please wake up!"

The younger princess groans softly and pulls herself out of the ditch Neron pounded her into. She looks up to her sister, "Diana...Being a superhero isn't as much fun as I thought it would be."

The older Amazon just smiled, relived her sister was alright, "To be fair, most of us don't start off fighting an arch-demon."

The sisterly moment is pretty much murdered by Neron roaring in blind rage and his body erupting in green fire. The Amazon princesses look to see much of Neron's human like appearance starting to melt away, revealing the demon he truly is. He's hurting and getting desperate. But with Diana on her last leg, and Donna still too inexperienced at this level of combat, the chances of them surviving this battle seemed unlikely.

Donna didn't understand. Aphrodite said that she could save Diana with her new powers. And maybe if she had been with Diana at the beginning of the battle she could have. But with how much Neron had worn her down, it was too much of a handicap for them to win at this point. They would need a miracle to defeat this demon.

Then, like a bolt of lightning, something Aphrodite said popped into her head: "Demons like Neron hate truth and love more than anything else."

Truth and Love. That was the answer! "Diana, we have to use our lassos."

"What do you mean?"

"Demons hate truth and love. Your lariat was forged in the fires of truth, and mine was created by a love goddess..."

"Wait...Aphrodite gave you these powers?"

Neron, roaring like feral beast, flew towards the two engulfed in flames ready to tear them to pieces. Diana and Donna fly out of the way as he slammed in to the ground, spearing green fire in his wake. Donna thew her lasso at Neron, ensnaring the demon, "Diana, just trust me!" With only a second's hesitation, Diana trapped Neron in her lasso as well.

And to Donna's credit, the two glowing ropes did seem to be causing the demon a fair mount of pain. The princesses flew around Neron to wrap the lariats around him completely, hurting him even more. Neron tried to struggle out of his bondage, but either through some divine intervention or sheer force of their combined wills, the two Amazons held strong against his relentless thrashing.

The longer he remain ensnared, the more the glowing lassos burn into his skin. Green smoke hiss off of his body as he screams in rage and defiance of the two godly lariats. Neron's form gradually lost solidity until the two lassos fell to the ground amidst wafting green smoke. Whether the demon was dead or not, at the moment all the exhausted princesses cared about was that he was gone.

Giving a relieved sigh, Diana barely noticed Donna flying towards her to give her a bone crushing hug. "Diana! We did it! We won!"

"Yes, Donna, we did." She said, wincing from her sister's newly developed strength, "Now could you let go? I'm still a bit tender."

Donna lets go and backs away, looking apologetic, "Oh, right. Sorry." She lowers herself to the ground and hugs Diana again, although more gently this time, and Diana hugs her back.

The sisters hold each other until a cheering crowd begins to surround them. While Diana takes the gathered masses in stride, Donna is not quite sure how to react to being around so many new people at once. Diana puts a comforting arm around her as more people thank them for stopping Neron.

A woman suddenly pushes through the crowd followed by a man holding a machine Donna had never seen before. The woman stands in front of them as the man points the machine at her and she begins talking to it. "Willow Cartwright, Action 5 News! We're here in Gateway City where the harrowing battle between Wonder Woman and an unknown meta-human has just come to a decisive end. All with the help of a young girl who seemed to appear literally out of now where." She turned to Diana, "Wonder Woman, who is this girl? Is she another Amazon?"

Diana looks down at Donna and runs a hand through her disheveled and matted hair. "Yes, She's my baby sister."

The girl smiles up to her and can't help but say in a small voice, "Well, I am thirteen today. Not really a baby anymore."

The collected crowd laughed, Diana just smiled wider. "Well I think we're all wondering the same thing: is your sister your new sidekick?"

"I think that's something we're going to have to discuss between just the two of us. Come on Donna." Diana flies away and Donna follows close behind.

Diana leads Donna to the top of a large metal bridge with massive arches set up at set intervals probably to support the bridges weight. She lands on one of arches and sits on the edge, motioning for Donna to join her, "I like to come up here to think. It helps me remember all the people in this city under my protection."

"I didn't know there could be so many people in one place." Donna said looking at the city.

Diana smiled, "I said the same thing when I first saw the outside world."

Donna sighed heavily, "Yeah, mother told me about that..." She glances at her sister, "And about what you found that day."

Diana sharply looks at Donna. She can actually see the painful truth in the young girl's eyes. She looks down at the cars passing below, "Donna...I'm sorry we lied to you for so long."

Donna just places her hand on Diana's, "It's alright, Diana. I won't lie, part of me is really angry with you and mother...But part of me understands why you lied. And I'm grateful." The older Amazon looks up to her sister again. "The truth is I probably would have been lonely if I knew where I really came from. I already felt different enough from our sisters; but feeling like I had something in common with you helped."

Diana pulls Donna into a tight hug, "Still, I am sorry." They separate and sit in silence while overlooking the city, Donna idly kicking her feet over the edge.

"So..." Donna started, "...What is a side-kick, exactly?"

Diana chuckled slightly. "It's a partner. Someone who helps a superhero do their job. Many of my allies in the Justice League have side-kicks. They're all about your age as well."

"Okay...So, do you think I could be your side-kick?" The younger princess asks with a hopeful smile on her face.

Diana opened her mouth, then snapped it shut and knitted her brows together. "I think we should speak to mother about this first."

Donna's eyed nearly bugged out of her head and her hand flew up to her mouth, "Great, Hera! I just left Themyscira without telling mother! And she was watching your battle through the Mirror of Wisdom so she knows what happened to me! She's probably watching us right now!"

"That's assuming she didn't faint when you started fighting Neron." Diana said offhandedly.

Donna started rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands, "Ugh...Mother is going to be so mad. She'll never let me leave Themyscira! She'll probably never let me leave the palace again."

Diana just laughed again, "I don't think it will be as bad as all that. You did save my life, Donna. I'm sure mother will be more proud than angry."

"Really?"

"Yes..." Then she paused for a second, "Although she will almost certainly be upset."

Donna just groaned and laid on her back, "What are the chances that we could just stay here for a while and let mother calm down?"

"Slim." Diana said with smirk, "I'm tired, filthy, everything hurts, and I can already hear one of Epione's healing baths calling to me like a siren." Donna had to admit that did sound fantastic. The Amazon healer Epione's herbal baths not only cleaned your body, but also restored your energy, soothed your pain, and even healed minor wounds. Diana sustained considerably more damage than Donna, so even after her bath she'd still sport more than a few bruised for the next couple of days. They were just lucky neither of them broke anything during the battle.

Donna sighs heavily, "I could really use a bath."

Diana lays down next to her, "And there is your birthday party tonight."

"Yeah, there's that too." Diana smiled at her and cocked an eyebrow. The thing Donna hated about her sister more than anything else, is how smug she can be when she knows she's right. "Fine. Let's go."

The two princesses pushed themselves off the arch, stopping in mid-air, "If it makes you feel any better, we can take our time in returning home. We still have time before we need to get ready for you party, after all."

"Thank you, Diana." The younger Amazon said, a relieved smile on her bruised face. The Amazon sisters fly towards their home, when a sly smile finds itself on Donna's face as a thought pops into her head, "Diana, I've been meaning to ask you about Aphrodite..."

* * *

Donna was suddenly roused from her sleep by a passing taxi horn blaring. She looks around for a second, not totally sure where she was. Once her brain started functioning at a normal level again, she remembered that she was working late in her office and must have fallen asleep at her computer again.

This was the fifth time this month. Starting up her own photo studio was a lot more work than she had originally thought. "If I can slay gods and demons, I think I can handle running a business." Donna often thought about those, in hindsight, rather foolish words she said to Diana and Bruce when she told them she wanted to open her own studio over a year ago. It wasn't like you could take a sword to a stack of invoices and tax statements. Well, you could, but it wouldn't actually help in anyway.

It was a long, exhausting, and tedious journey, but Paradise Island Studios had been open for a good three months and she was doing pretty well for herself. Thanks in no small part to her apparently being Bruce Wayne's official New York photographer. He insisted in wasn't charity

because of her high level of skill, but she was sure that if Bruce wasn't one of her sister's best friends, he'd never even look at her.

Photography had started out as a silly hobby when she first started living in Man's World, and just kinda spiraled into a passion in a few short years. Donna had always been a rather visual person growing up. She was an excellent artist, and could paint, sketch, and sculpt with the best of 'em. But some how, photography just spoke to her in a special way. She just loved instantly capturing a brief glimpse into another persons life.

Donna rubbed her eyes and turned away from the editing program on her desktop to look at the wall behind her desk. The whole thing covered in numerous photos she'd taken in her, admittedly short professional career. Some were exotic landscapes, some were portraits of superheroes and celebrities, and some were abstract pieces no one other than Donna really understood what they were supposed to mean.

The only one she didn't take was the one she was currently staring at. She stood up and took the framed news clipping off the wall, looking longingly at the headline: "Wonder Woman rescued by new sidekick, Wonder Girl!" It was the first time she was photographed and the first time she was ever called Wonder Girl. The name stuck surprisingly well, even Hippolyta like it.

What really surprised Donna, was Hippolyta agreeing to let her join Diana in protecting Man's World. The way Hippolyta explained it; if the love goddess deemed Donna worthy of her power, she had a responsibility to use it for the good of humanity. As long as they stayed on Themyscira until they fully recovered. Plus a week. Plus a three day tournament to celebrate their departure. And had there been some major holiday around that time, Donna didn't doubt her mother would have insisted they stay for that as well. As much as she understood her mother's desire to keep her children around, Donna was just excited to see more of the outside world.

She spent five happy, and not so happy years as Wonder Girl. She even formed the superhero team called the Teen Titans with some of the other sidekicks she met. Unfortunately the Titans ended up going their separate ways for different personal reasons.

Wally decided he wanted to focus on getting a college education. It made sense, being a superhero didn't pay anything, and having a diploma could only help in getting a job. Jackson returned to Atlantis to help Queen Mera run the city while Arthur worked with The League. Roy spent most of his time working at half-way houses and drug clinics after his personal battle with heroin. That and being a single father to Lian. Donna didn't even want to know how Roy ended up having a daughter with one of the League of Shadows' deadliest assassins.

And then there was Dick. The only one of her old teammates to continue the good fight. Albeit with a different name. She had to admit the Nightwing costume looked good on him. She wasn't even a little surprised to hear that Dick kept going without Batman backing him. Hearing that his secret identity was a police trainee was a little bit.

Feeling understandably nostalgic, Donna returned to her desk, pick up the phone, and dialed in a long distance number. After a few rings, the other end picked up, "Hey Dick. Why am I not surprised you're still up?" ... "Nothing really. Just thinking about the past. I just had a REALLY vivid dream about the day I got my powers."

The two friends talked for hours, well into the morning. And for a while, the Amazon ex-patriot was watched closely by the same hooded girl who has been traveling across the country to find the seven people she needed to save the world.

The Bat, the Star, the Machine, the Cloak, the Lightning Bolt, and finally the Warrior. Donna Troy was the last person she needed to find. For some reason she couldn't find the Spirit, but she sensed that it was coming to her instead.

Raven teleported away from Paradise Island and reappeared on a roof top in downtown Manhattan, floating in mid-air in the lotus position. It had been nearly half a year since she first received the vision of the seven totems that would aid her in battling her father. And now, the stage had been set and all she had to do is wait for her totems to converge. Already she could see the threads of fate leading the totems to this city.

The world had been denied a great force of good for too long. She felt honored to be the one to bring a new generation of Teen Titans into existence.

* * *

Okay, so a few things before I really get into this one: 1) I know that Aphrodite is the goddess of romantic and sexual love and not familial love. I wanted to use Aphrodite mostly as a reference to Wonder Woman's original origin when her powers came solely from her. 2) I have no knowledge of Neron. I know he killed Wonder Woman once, and Artemis was there. But I don't really know anything about his powers. So if I got anything about him wrong (Which I'm absolutely sure I did) I'm sorry.

Okay, so I wanted to do this one for a good while. Donna isn't my favorite Titan, but I always feel like she doesn't get much love from DC. I wanted there to be at least one member of the original five Titans on this new team, and at first I wanted it to be Nightwing. But once I decided to make Cass the Bat, I figured Donna was just as good. And for anyone who read Sensational Comics, yes, the event that lead to Diana finding Donna in the garbage is basically from that one issue drawn by Noelle Stevenson.

Unfortunately this is not the last backstory before we get to the big team up. I don't think it's all that surprising that Raven's story will be the last one.

So, yea. The Key is next.


End file.
